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Meat Atlas (Der Fleischatlas) is an annual report, published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Friends of the Earth Europe, on the methods and impact of industrial animal agriculture.[1] Consisting of 27 short essays by different authors, the report aims to inform consumers about the impact of meat consumption on global poverty, climate change, animal welfare, biodiversity, and the migration of workers.[2]
Meat Atlas was first published in German in 2013, and in German and English in 2014, both under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). The executive editors are Christine Chemnitz of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Stanka Becheva of Friends of the Earth Europe.[3]
Magda Stoczkiewicz, director of Friends of the Earth Europe, argues in the report that "[n]othing epitomizes what is wrong with our food and farming more than the livestock sector and the quest for cheap and plentiful meat."
She writes that livestock farming is one of the biggest
The release of the Meat Atlas in January coincides with the Berlin International Green Week and demonstrations in Berlin themed We are fed up! against industrial livestock production and for more sustainable farming.[12]
Worldwide meat production
Numbers of birds killed
Direct subsidies for animal products and feed (in OECD countries)
Estimated chicken consumption per person, 2012, in kilograms,
Animal genetics industry: the Big Seven global breeders
The kind of environment in which this occurs means that pathogens can spread easily, both during slaughter and transport.[7] For the animals it means increased cruelty because of long journeys to slaughterhouses, inadequate stunning, and violence from stressed workers. For the workers, it means low wages, a noisy and highly stressful working environment, and long shifts spent making high-speed repetitive movements with dangerous equipment and frightened animals. For the consumer, it severs the relationship between the animals and the end product on the supermarket shelf.[11]
Because profit margins are tight, companies aim for greater efficiency and lower costs, with as much profit as possible from "field to fork."[8] According to the report, JBS can accommodate a daily slaughter of 12 million birds, 85,000 head of cattle and 70,000 pigs, the produce of which is sold in 150 countries.[9] Tyson Foods kills 42 million chickens, 350,000 pigs and 170,000 head of cattle every week.[10]
JBS, headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil, heads the list. The company's 2012 revenue of $38.7 billion exceeded the gross domestic product of Barbados, Iceland, Mauritius and Zimbabwe combined.[5] JBS is followed by Tyson Foods, Cargill, BRF, Vion, Nippon Meat Packers, Smithfield Foods, Marfrig, and Danish Crown. Just ten companies kill 88 percent of pigs.[7]
Through mergers and acquisitions across borders and species, meat production is handled by an ever-diminishing number of large companies.[6] The report lists the world's top-ten meat producers (see right), calculated by total food sales in the years 2011–2013.[7]
The report states that animals are kept in cramped conditions, in artificial light, and fed antibiotics and hormones to ward off disease and speed up growth cheaply.[4] Pigs can reach their market weight with 10–15 percent less food if they are kept on antibiotics, but overuse has created antibiotic-resistant bacteria, so-called "superbugs."[5] Stoczkiewicz argues instead in favour of sustainable farming, where animals are kept in much smaller numbers and are allowed to graze freely, with farmers growing their own crops to feed them.[4]
[1] Over 75 kg (165 lb) of meat is consumed in the United States per person per year, 60 kg in Germany, 38 kg in China, and under 20 kg in Africa.[5]
Peter Singer, Immanuel Kant, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Hinduism, Buddhism
McDonald's, Pizza, French fries, United States, Kfc
Animal rights, Michael Pollan, Peter Singer, Veganism, Vegetarianism
Meat, Mutton, Oecd, Environmental impact of meat production, Antibiotic use in livestock