Lecture 12 - Industrial Animal Food Production

• Animals raised for food in US outnumber humans by 7:1

• IFAP: Industrial Food Animal Protection

  • Predominant approach to meat (pork, beef, poultry), dairy and egg production in US
  • Credited for availability and affordability of animal products
  • Real consumer prices of most animal products - considerably lower than mid-20th century

What does IFAP refer to?

• Breeding
• Housing
• Feeding
• Waste management
• As part of industrialized supply chain:
  • Growing feed crops
  • Slaughtering animals
  • Processing carcasses into meat

Traditional Animal Agriculture

• Roughly 10,000 years old
• Poultry, swine, cattle raised on a small-scale, access to outdoors
• **Fair contract between humans and animals- 2 way relationship

Egg Industry

• One of the first to experience industrialization
• Natural behaviors
  • Nest building, dust bathing, defecating away from nests

CAFOs

• CAFOs: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations
• Production processes that
  • Concentrates large number of animals in a relatively small, confined places
  • Substitutes structures and equipment used in feeding, temperature control and manure management for land and labor

Feedlots

• Confinement facilities, usually outdoors, where animals (usually cattle) are fed for the purpose of rapid weight gain prior to slaughter

AFO vs CAFO

• An AFO (Animal Feeding Operation) is an agricultural operation where animals are kept and raised in confined situations (roofed or open) and confined for at least 45 days in a 12-month period, and there is no grass or other vegetation in the confinement area during the normal growing season
• This would usually not include pastures, but would include feedlots, cow yards, and concentrated field areas

A CAFO is a AFO that meets one of the regulatory definitions as a large, medium or small CAFO

This is usually in regard to capacity, but Small CAFOs are designated on a case-by-case basis

Meat

• A resource that Americans take for granted may be in store - something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn’t oil. It’s Meat!

• Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government

• Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher

The good side of Industrial Farms

• Large farmers - who are responsible for 80 percent of the food sales in the United States, are among the most progressive, technologically savvy growers on the planet

• Controlled atmosphere stunning: animals and birds unconscious before slaughtering

Milk

• Milk is produced in all 50 states

Farmstead Dairies

• Manufactured dairy products right on the farm
• Decreasing in number

Dedicated Patrons/cooperatives

• Patrons produce milk, deliver raw milk to dairy plant
• Dairy plants further process and make products

Hormones / Growth Promotants in Milk

• Since 1950s, over 30 growth-promoting products approved by FDA for use in beef cattle in the US; NO steroid hormone implants approved for growth of dairy cows, veal calves, pigs or poultry

Antibiotics

• Overseen by FDA, USDA & CDC
• USDA and FDA ensure that:
  • Antibiotics are cleared from animals’ system before milking process and before slaughter
• Marketing tools: antibiotic free labels
  • Confuse customers who might not understand that all foods are antibiotic-free by regulatory standard

2013: FDA issues a set of guidelines The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food Producing Animals with 2 main principles:

• Use of medically important drugs should be limited to assuring animal health
• Use should be limited to uses with veterinary oversight or consultation
• Ethically: antibiotic resistance is a significant problem with wide-ranging implications for human health