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N A T I O N
Consumers Hold the Key To Building a Better Meat System by Marilyn Noble
A
ll it’s taken to expose the precarious state of our modern industrial meat supply is a tiny bit of infectious genetic material wrapped in a protein coat.
JAMES EKSTR AND
The coronavirus pandemic has shone a not-so-friendly light on the inhumane ways both animals and people are treated in a system dominated by four major companies: Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef. Over the past 40 years, as the meat-packing industry has consolidated in the name of scale, efficiency and profits— and while consumers have been the beneficiaries of cheap meat—producers, rural communities, slaughterhouse workers and the environment have all paid a steep price.
EdibleSantaBarbara.com HOLIDAY / WINTER 2020–21 | 39