How to Be a Conscious Eater

The global population of livestock consists of approxi-

mately 19.6 billion chickens, 1.9 billion sheep and goats, 1.4

billion cattle, and 980 million pigs. For these food-producing

animals, there’s much agreement among NGOs and advocacy

groups that agribusiness producers should be required to com-

ply with the following policies to ensure that at least most of

these freedoms are met most of the time:

Pregnant sows in hog-breeding operations should not

be kept in gestation crates, which confine them during

their pregnancy, preventing them from walking, turn-

ing, or interacting with other pigs.

Egg-laying hens should not be raised in battery cages,

which inhibit movement by restricting each chicken to

a space smaller than a single piece of printer paper—for

their entire lives!

Beyond being able to move around, animals should ide-

ally be given access to the outdoors, preferably pasture.

For animals that are restricted to the indoors or to feed-

lots (enclosed spaces where livestock get fattened up

before slaughter), housing should be as comfortable as

possible. This includes things like shade to protect them

from the sun, and fresh air in buildings along with ade-

quate lighting and clean bedding.

Chickens should be bred more slowly so they don’t

become so heavy that they can’t support their own

weight.

Animals should not be raised with the nontherapeu-

tic use of antibiotics that are medically important to

humans. Because the unhygienic conditions of confined

Stuff That comes from animals 97

Conscious Eater_02 PT_4th patches.indd 97 10/23/19 1:31 PM