TikToker Exposes Truth Behind 'Garbage Feeding' - pigs in dozens of states are legally fed plastic garbage, ground up and added to their feed
cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/5780662
I don't have time to watch this video but... it seems like a dubious claim.
Feed on some specific farm carelessly contaminated with plastic? sure.
Feeding pigs plastic as a cost cutting measure? Non-sensical.
It doesn't take a veterinarian to deduce that feeding livestock plastic will harm your profitability.
I also didn't watch this video here but saw videos earlier where livestock was fed with expired food that supermarkets weren't able to sell in time. All kinds of products like vegetables, bread, cake, yogurt etc. were delivered to the farmers directly or to intermediate companies. In many cases the food was still in its packaging, e.g. a plastic bag around a loaf of bread. But to keep costs low everything just went into a huge shredder and was then fed to the animals. Including lots of micro (and not so micro) plastics.
So the cost cutting is not about "explicitly feeding plastics as a cheap filler" but rather "accepting to have plastics in the food in favor of lower sorting costs".
In the documentary I watched this was described a common practice all over Europe.
Fucking clown world
Thank you. The motivation for them to do this is clear, with this context. Horrible.
They're not specifically feeding them plastic only, he's showing how any waste food (old potatos, old bread, chips, etc) that comes to be processed does not have the plastic bags removed before going into a grinder to become feed.
He actually shows how it's explicitly allowed in his state regulations, likely approved due to the efforts of an agribusiness lobbyist. I suspect that any negative effects to the pigs is not enough to effect the end product/bottom line, or doesn't manifest within the timeframe of a viable animal for slaughter.
the microplastics and hormone effects will definitely show up in the meat. Plastic is already in almost everything we eat and drink but this is probably much more concentrated and unhealthy than most other sources that humans consume.
this got me thinking as well.
I think the whole garbage feeding law (at least in US, where the video originated) is made to control disease transmission -- but not microplastics, which is a relatively new discovery.
Still up to the consumer to protect themselves while there's no regulation tackling this.
Capitalist innovation be like...
Just go vegan. This is horrible for everyone involved.
Honestly even if we just cut out pork....this animal is as smart as dogs and just as social and loving.
Cows are social and loving, too. And don't get me started on octopodes!
Pigs definitely are and you shouldn't eat them, but intelligence is a weird way to judge whether a life deserves consideration.
The only pertinent question is surely if they suffer.
I agree, we should start eating dogs.
As an addition Just make sure we are leaving out the slavery sourced goods as well like avacodos and almond milk. Stop eating chocolate. Real Vanilla is completely off limits.
Cause there's no point in virtue signalling if your not going all the way.
Yeah, never change or improve unless you can be perfect all the time!
It's crazy how defensive people get when cutting meat is suggested. Don't even get me started on when the Internet collectively learned the phrase "virtue signalling". Fuck me running.
No ethical consumption under capitalism, so grow your own or starve I guess.
I'd be down for that, personally. I like the thickness of soy milk more, and according to this test, real vanilla is pretty overrated.