Since the 196os, most meat has come from factory farms. Animals are usually raised in feed
lots, where they are crammed into a small space
with little ability to move. Instead of grazing on their natural diets of
grass and shrubs, most factory-farmed cattle, for instance, eat grain,
soy, and corn. This unnatural diet changes the nutritional value of the
meat, making it higher in pro-inflammatory fats and lower in heart- healthy fats such as omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid
(CIA). Grain-fed beef is also lower in vitamin E, beta-carotene, and
vitamin C, important antioxidants that protect your body against
serious illnesses such as prostate cancer.
Factory-farmed meat usually also contains trace amounts of
antibiotics. With animals crowded together in small lots, diseases
spread rapidly. To combat disease, ranchers routinely give antibiotics
to livestock, even when the animals display no signs of illness. The
antibiotics, by the way, also make animals gain weight, possibly by
killing their intestinal bacteria. The problem is that the antibiotics
make their way into an animal’s fat and muscle tissue. The farming
industry, of course, will tell you that there are no antibiotics left in
meat by the time animals go to slaughter. However, the Food and
Drug Administration has admitted that meat and poultry are not
routinely tested for antibiotic residues and that antibiotics almost
undoubtedly end up in the meat you purchase at the store. The agency
is generally short staffed and under-funded, which prevents it from
being everywhere it should. The scientists at the FDA have also
mistakenly assumed that antibiotics in our food supply are harmless.
#meat #meatIndustry #stubbornfatfix
