4 Ways the Meat Industry Lies to You

1. Deceptive Animal Welfare Labels


You may see “cage-free, “free-range, and other so-called humane labels on meat, dairy, and eggs, but don’t get it twisted. All animals raised for food will meet the same violent and unnecessary death: having their throats slit.

Additionally, hatcheries that supply all sorts of “happy egg farms still grind up male chicks alive or suffocate them in garbage bags. And cows on organic dairies have their babies ripped away from them only to be sold for veal. Sound humane to you? We didn’t think so.

2. Idyllic Portrayal of Farmed Animals


You know all those cute, cartoony images of smiling farmed animals being raised outdoors in open pastures? Don’t believe it for a minute. The vast majority of farmed animals raised for food in the United States endure a life of misery and pain on factory farms. These poor animals will never see sunlight or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded in overcrowded transport trucks and shipped to slaughter.

3. Misleading Language


When the meat industry describes what it does with its animals to the public, it gets really crafty. Instead of using words like “killing and “slaughtering, the industry goes for gentler-sounding words such as “harvesting or “processing. We’ve heard of harvesting crops or processing a payment, but hanging someone upside down and cutting their throat open doesn’t sound like harvesting or processing to us.

4. Bogus Sustainability Claims


We can’t even. If someone tries to tell you that animal products are “sustainable or “environmentally friendly, tell them to check themselves. No matter what it says on the package, animal agriculture is one of the leading contributors to climate change. It also wastes valuable resources and has a major hand in deforestation and species extinction.

But what about grass-fed beef? Forget about it. According to Gidon Eshel, professor of environmental science at Bard College, “The only sustainable beef is beef that was never produced or consumed. Beef and sustainability are about as compatible as war and goodness.