It is a common practice among cattle ranchers to enclose cattle into a “Feed Lot” a few months before slaughter. This practice is done to ensure that the cows can get fattened up on unnatural grain heavy diets to add weight and “marbling” to the meat. “Feed lots” are very small enclosures, where dozens of these animals are crammed into tightly fenced in spaces with only enough room for the cows to poke their heads out to eat grain and drink water. Sick cows intermingle with healthy ones and in these tight spaces, feces is mashed and matted all over the cattle and even gets into their food. As we have seen, cow feces can be deadly to humans. E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, both found in cow feces, have been responsible for almost a million pounds of beef recalled this summer alone, not to mention the dozens of illnesses related to these recalls. The sharing of feed lots means a sharing of pathogens. In light of the cross contamination scenarios, shouldn’t the practice of feed lots be objectively reevaluated?
Richard J. Arsenault, 2010
