PublishedReaktion Books, July 2017 |
ISBN9781780237602 |
FormatSoftcover, 176 pages |
Dimensions20cm × 12cm × 1.8cm |
What's the Matter with Meat? draws back the curtain that obscures the true
costs of industrialized meat production. The book exposes how the industry
is expanding worldwide at a rapid pace, with just a few large companies
monopolizing the majority of the market. This global survey of factory-produced
meat examines the practices of the industry in five major production
centres: the USA, Europe, Brazil, Australia and Asia.
The system generates enormous corporate profits while providing very
low prices to consumers, but has an outsized and often negative impact on
surrounding communities. Katy Keiffer focuses on issues such as labour,
genetics, animal welfare and environmental degradation, as well as probing
less-reported topics such as 'land grabs', where predator companies
acquire property in foreign nations for meat production, frequently at the
expense of local agriculture.
The current industry model is simply not feasible for the future, as our
planet will soon run out of the resources required to raise animals.
A salutary,
hard-hitting critique of the meat-producing industry and its harmful
effects, this book exhorts consumers to resist the lure of cheap meat and
encourages governments to foster alternative methods, and the industry
itself to amend its practices. This book is not about telling people to stop
eating meat. Rather, by exposing current industry practices we can all be
aware of the perils of supporting the system; instead of urging people to
avoid meat, it proposes that we demand and pay for better meat.
