By the time that cheeseburger arrives on your plate, it’s hard to think about anything but how tasty it’ll be. But when you trace the origins of each ingredient—the beef, the fried egg, the splurge-worthy bacon—some uncomfortable truths emerge.
That we’re uneasy about the origins of our food is no surprise. After all, in our shrink-wrapped, pre-cooked, fast-food world, it’s easy to ignore. Fortunately, though, awareness is growing where it matters: Big Food. Shocking cases of documented animal abuse have persuaded many of the biggest meat purchasers—McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway—to make their chains more humane.
Still, we’re a long way off from feeling good about what’s for dinner, whether it’s beef, chicken, or even eggs. Here, we check out the 5 cruelest foods you eat — plus, what’s being done about them, and what to eat in the meantime.
1. Lobster
These spiny guys can live as old as we do, but thanks to our appetite for lobster rolls, they usually don’t. A recent study in the journal Animal Behavior showed that, contrary to previous thinking, lobsters and crab can feel pain and exhibit signs of stress. Lobsters also have a central nervous system, according to other research. But that hasn’t persuaded many to stop eating them. Some high-end restaurants even offer live lobster sashimi, where you choose your lobster from a tank and it appears on your plate in seconds, slit down the middle and squirming.
What’s being done: Not much, although boiling lobster is illegal in the Italian town Reggio Emilia. Domestically, Whole Foods no longer sells live lobsters. In 2005, the chain conducted an internal study on the crustacean and how it gets to stores. They were persuaded by numerous studies that show lobsters can get stressed, are able to learn, and are aware of their surroundings. Many are held in storage facilities for several months, and because there’s no way to minimize that distress, Whole Foods decided to stop carrying them live.
What to eat instead: Nosh wild-caught fish. If you’re worried about the ethics of eating seafood at all but want to get your omega-3s, choose a plant-based source, like super-healthy ground flaxseed.
2. Veal
Many male calves are destined to become veal, since they can’t produce milk. Just days after one of these calves is born, he can be moved to a crate so small that he can’t turn around. There, he’s typically fed milk or formula and is not allowed to exercise, which results in the pale fatty flesh for which veal is famous. Veal are usually slaughtered when they’re just 5 months old.
What’s being done: Over a decade ago, The Humane Society of the United States recorded undercover abuse of calves at a Vermont slaughter plant. The USDA and Vermont Agency of Agriculture suspended operations there for an investigation, and a year later, the plant’s owner pleaded no contest to animal cruelty charges. But there’s some good news: Veal crates are illegal in Arizona, California, Maine, Michigan, and Ohio.
What to eat instead: If you’re craving the tenderness of veal, grab a meaty Portobello mushroom burger instead. Top with pesto and roasted red peppers and slap on a whole-wheat bun for a cruelty-free 277 calories.
3. Eggs
So you don’t eat lobster, veal, or even meat? You still might not be eating cruelty-free. The innocent little egg sometimes comes from hens who live in cages so small they can’t even spread their wings. It’s not surprising that the eggs from these hens, claustrophobic and living in their own waste, are up to 21 times more likely to harbor salmonella, according to a study from Belgium.
What’s being done: Thankfully, things might be looking up for chickens. Organic farmers and some trailblazing companies, such as Eggland’s Best, already treat their chickens right. And now, congress is considering a new bill—H.R. 3798, or the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012—that would give hens twice the amount of living space, prohibit excessive ammonia in the henhouses, and require labeling on egg cartons to list how the egg-layers lived. For every new egg-laying hen born into today’s factory farming system, a male chick is killed — or “culled.” As many as 300 million chicks are killed in the United States every year, and more than 6 billion total are killed around the world., so this could be big for the little cluckers.
What to eat instead: Organic or free range is ideal for anything chicken-related, since poultry feed can have all kinds of bad stuff in it, from antidepressants to arsenic. Cage-free is nice, too, since those eggs don’t come from chickens that are trapped in battery cages all the time. Seek out eggs with the “certified humane raised and handled label,” which means that your eggs underwent a voluntary, thorough inspection by an independent animal-welfare group. Or buy from a farmer or brand you trust. Check out LocalHarvest to find some sustainable farmers near you.
4. Beef
How well is your cow treated before it turns into your burger patty? Not great, you think, since you know how lax the laws are regarding factory farms. But how bad can it get, really? Very, according to the animal-rights group Compassion Over Killing, which released an undercover video taken at Central Valley Meat Co., a California slaughterhouse that supplies beef to the USDA National School Lunch Program, In-N-Out Burger, Costco, and McDonald’s. Workers there illegally shocked the cows repeatedly with electric prods, sometimes as many as 40 times. Many of the cows there died slow, agonizing deaths, and some captured on video weren’t even dead when they got to the slaughtering stage.
What’s being done: Since the video came out, the aforementioned companies severed their ties with Central Valley Meat Co. The USDA closed the plant down for a few days to address mishandlings, but then continued their lunch program contract with the company, reported Food Safety News.
What to eat instead: If you’re set on meat, go local, and humane. Get your beef at a farmer’s market, where you can ask the farmer about their breeding—and slaughtering—practices. Better yet…go organic and/or grass fed.
5. Pork
Want to know the secret to beating bacon cravings at brunch? Consider where your pig came from. Even though they’re some of the most intelligent animals alive, most breeding pigs are kept in gestation crates: tiny spaces about 2 feet wide in which pigs can’t even turn around, according to the Humane Society. They stay pent up most of their lives to endure constant impregnation.
What’s being done: Gestation crates are banned in Sweden and the U.K. Stateside, they’re banned in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island, with phase-out plans in several other states. The three largest fast food chains in America—McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s—announced they’d be phasing out the practice for pigs. Qdoba, Jack in the Box, Subway and several other chains pledged to eliminate gestation crates by 2022.
What to eat instead: This little piggie went to market—the farmer’s market. If you must sneak in a bite every now and then, it’s the very best way to learn what happens to your meat, from pig’s pen to pork chop.
However, eat at your own risk as pork has been linked but not limited to multiple types of cancers, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, liver disease, MS, yersinia, and cirrhosis.
Consumption of meat, in any quantity, can be detrimental to your health in a number of ways, and generally speaking, the more you eat, the more you increase your risk.
Not all pork is made equal. Uncooked meat can carry pathogens, while processed meat tends to be worse. Meat that is high in saturated fats and trans fats causes the greatest risk to health.
The exact nature of this risk is still a matter of active research, but if you want to be on the safe side, no amount of pork is safe. If you just can’t give it up, the common recommendation is to not go over 500 g (1.1 pounds) per week and stick to lean, unprocessed meat.
Substituting red meat protein with plant protein is linked to a longer, healthier life, with multiple studies backing this up. Reducing pork consumption can also have a positive environmental impact, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption associated with our food.