The book, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is a combination of memoir and an investigative report, born from the author’s undercover investigation of the meat industry practices. It combines knowledge from different fields; literature, science and philosophy, blended into his own personal experience to bring out the bad side of the meat industry. It looks at the inhumane handling of animals in the animal industry. The industry is characterized by poor conditions of raising farm animals, the downing of animals, slaughter before they reach maturity, and the human condition and treatment of animals in slaughterhouses.
The book is striking since it details the personal experience and research done by a regular person, deviating from the common expert one sided opinion that is often laced with prejudice. Animal welfare is an important consideration for the meat industry. The drive for high profits and the effort to meat industry demands should not overshadow ethical practice. The book questions the humanity in the rearing, and the factory processing of meat (Foer, 229). Stricter regulations should be put in place and the available regulations should be strengthened to monitor the rearing of animals and meat processing practices. As stated by Foer, companies life CFC have adopted policies for their suppliers to follow (58) however, there is no strict adherence to these policies. All stores and food outlets should adopt policies that govern their supplier’s operations and impromptu audits conducted on suppliers to uphold animal welfare. Foer’s revelation of the nature of unhealthy and inhumanly produced meat is appreciable for food production attention to health and ethics should ideally be uncompromised.
Works Cited
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Print.
