The Meat We Eat
Hold that fork! Block that barbeque! Do you know the source of the meat that's sizzling on the grill? Can we trust meat inspectors to catch pathogens before they catch us? Join us as we step inside the poultry shed and the slaughterhouse to trace the trail of the industrial chicken from egg to processing to your plate. testtestupdate
Click on a program topic to hear audio with voices and stories behind the issues.
Use the study guides to inform yourself about the topic and learn the skills of innovation, including:
- Creative problem-solving
- Strategic thinking
- Entrepreneurial initiative
- Collaborative design
In addition:
- Explore other audio, video and print resources on the topic
- Use the suggested activities to put innovation into action in your community
- Choose from a menu of options to adapt the materials to your specific learning and teaching objectives.
Steve Striffler and Dr. Lester Friedlander
Professor of Anthropology at University of Arkansas, Former USDA Inspector (3:52)
The Meat We Eat
Study and Resource Guide
Community Outcomes and Learning Goals:
· Explore the industrialized meat and seafood industry and how it operates.
· Raise awareness of personal food choices and their impacts on health, community, and environment.
· Explore how animals are raised for consumption and consider alternative ways the industrialized system could be (re)designed to ensure fair treatment of animals as well as access and affordability to consumers.
· Consider our individual and collective role(s) in the industrialized food system and how our purchasing power and food choices influence this system.
· Teach innovation skills to generate new and more effective approaches to these issues through creative problem solving, collaborative design, entrepreneurial initiative and strategic thinking.
Listening/ Comprehension Questions
Before Listening
1. Do you eat meat? Do you know anyone who doesn’t? If you or someone you know chooses not to eat meat, why do they choose not to? If you eat meat, why do you do so? If you don’t, why not?
During/After Listening
1. According to Dr. Karen Davis, what are the living conditions of chickens raised for meat? What is a “scald tank”?
2. Dr. Davis asserts that the term “free range” is often misconstrued. What does free range mean and why does she feel it is misleading?
3. According to the guests in this program, are there potential dangers in eating meat raised in our industrialized food system? If so, what are they?
4. Heritage turkey farmer Frank Reese discusses how turkeys have been genetically modified for mass production. What are the attributes of an “industrialized turkey” as he describes them? How do his heritage turkeys differ from the conventional ones available at Thanksgiving? Are you willing to pay the price difference to eat a heritage turkey?
5. Describe the inspection process of poultry/chicken as accounted for by Steve Striffler, who worked for a time in a meat processing plant and reported on what he found there.
6. Why does livestock handing expert Temple Grandin label the federal meat inspection system as lax? In what ways does Dr. Grandin say the industry not well regulated?
7. Dr. Grandin offers suggestions for consumers regarding the safe handling of meat and seafood. What does she say needs to be done to improve the meat handling and inspection system?
Critical Thinking and Discussion Questions
1. Turkey farmer Frank Reese suggests that the poultry industry has weakened itself and its livestock by mass producing the animals. Do you agree with him? If not, why not?
2. Frank Reese believes that the consumer’s demand for low-priced meat causes farmers and meat processors to cut corners to the detriment of both the livestock and human health. Do consumers have a right to inexpensive poultry? Weigh the benefits and the costs of this convenience. Why/why not? Would you personally be willing to pay more for your poultry in order to assure that it is being handled safely and humanely? What about those who simply can’t pay more – who, in the words of one, “can’t afford to care”?
3. Has this program changed how you feel about eating meat? In way ways? Host Mark Sommer suggests that as consumers we all have a “vote” in the operation of this system. Do you think you can make an impact with your purchasing power? Do you want to? How would you choose to exercise that power?
Experiential Learning
1. Welcome to the Jungle: Consider further research on meat packing plants and how the meat we eat arrives at our table. From raising the animal (or fish) to bring to the dinner table, what is the process? Research and present your findings.
2. Home on the Range: Research the terminology used to classify meat and seafood offered in the marketplace today. What do the terms mean? For example, what are the differences between a “free range,” “cage free,” and “organic” egg?
3. How the Other Half Lives: Visit a chicken, turkey, or seafood farm and gather material on the living conditions for these creatures. Are they acceptable to you? Why or why not? Is there a difference between a dog raised as a pet and a chicken raised for food? Should there be? What are the differences, if any?
Lesson Objectives:
· Explore issues of access, health, and community as they are related to meat consumption in the United States.
· Develop critical thinking and problem solving skills through an inquiry based process
Materials Needed:
· Educast/Food, Sustainability and Society: The Meat We Eat: Food Safety and the Industrialized Animal
· Student Worksheets
· One to two class periods
Procedure
- Ask students to listen to the Educast: The Meat We Eat, paying particular attention to the concepts of access to food (both geographic and economic), health and nutrition, and community as they listen. They may take as many notes as they would like during the Educast, as key points may aid them during this exercise.
- Divide the room/seating into two halves, facing one another. On one side of the room, place a sign that is labeled “TRUE” and on the other, a sign labeled “FALSE”. Instructors may even use a piece of thick tape/duct tape to create a visual “line” down the middle of the room.
- Provide students with accompanying worksheet of true/false statements and ask them to decide individually whether each statement is true or false, making notes as they like.
- Introduce the first statement and ask those who found it to be “true” to sit on the side of the room labeled “true” and vice versa.
- Students may then take turns defending their stance. During the process, should any one student become convinced that a point made by the other side is, in fact, the better point, they may move seats, or defect. Where students are positioned near or far from the line can indicate how strong their belief/conviction is concerning the statement. As students from “the other side” talk, those across the line may move closer or further away from the center line, denoting how their perspectives are shifting, if in fact they are.
- Facilitate this discussion, using your time allowance for each question as appropriate.
- After the debate, ask students to reflect (reflection worksheet provided) on the issue and their thoughts during the debate. Debrief with the group as a whole: What additional questions were raised? What issues were most important to you during this exercise? What issues need further consideration? What solutions, if any, can you see as a result of this discussion?
TRUE/FALSE: For each of the statements below, decide whether you feel it is “true” or “false”. You may make notes to support your claim, but you must decide one or the other – there is no gray area during this debate.
1. Because we have the capacity to produce it, consumers have a right to inexpensive, widely accessible poultry.
2. Consumers have a “vote” with their purchasing power. Individual choices can change the system.
3. The meat industry has weakened its standards of quality with mass production.
4. All of the chicken for sale at grocery stores is contaminated and unhealthy.
5. The current meat production process needs to change, even if that means consumer costs will rise.
6. The “industrialized turkey” is a necessity of an industrialized food system. If we have the means to produce bigger turkeys, we should take advantage of it to ensure inexpensive options for consumers.
7. There should be stricter regulations for meat inspection, even if it means costs will rise.
8. A handful of large-scale industrial producers of meat are easier to inspect and regulate than many small-scale local producers
9. Production facilities are regularly inspected by the Federal government. They are clean and safe.
10. People don’t care about how meat is produced; the main concern is how much it costs.
About the Series: Educasting is a service of the Mainstream Media Project that extends the life and reach of MMP’s internationally syndicated radio program, A World of Possibilities (www.aworldofpossibilities.com) by re-purposing selected series following their initial broadcast for use as long-term audio educational and movement-building resources.
© 2007-2009 Connexus Communications. All rights reserved. All trademarks, service marks and logos are owned by or registered to Connexus Communications or A World of Possibilities.