Summary Of Down On The Factory Farm By Peter Singer
The Disease Factory: An Analysis of Peter Singer’s “Down on the Factory Farm” and the Spread of Diseases In "Down on the Factory Farm," Peter Singer discusses the methods that factory farmers employ to raise animals for profit and reveals the detrimental effects on the animals. These detrimental effects do not stop at the animals, however, as the conditions of factory farms affect the quality and health of the food. The move from small farms to the factory farm has increased the risk of salmonella and made humans more vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks and the spread of zoonotic diseases. In “Food for Thought, Part I: Foodborne Illness and Factory Farming,” Stephanie Maxine Ross explains “the bacterial pathogen Salmonella, which is
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Singer describes the conditions producers house chickens in, keeping them “in long windowless shed[s]” or in “tiers of cages in order to get more birds into the same size shed” (21). Cage is the most common, which Ross calls “battery cages,” and compares them to “to stuffing several hens into a nonlegal sized filing drawer” which “results in a significant increase in the risk of Salmonella foodborne disease” (169). Ross corroborates this claim with a study from the European Union that compared the risk of Salmonella from cage-free eggs to battery-caged eggs and found that, compared to battery-caged eggs, “there was 77% less Salmonella infection among cage-free hens and 93% less Salmonella contamination in organic and free-range hens than in battery-caged production” (171). Furthermore, the cages are not the only unethical practice responsible for the spread of Salmonella. Singer explains that “every aspect of the bird’s environment is controlled to make them grow faster on less food” (21) and details that these conditions are done in the most cost effective manner rather than the manner that would produce the best product. Producers like Fred C. Haley assert that the egg production business’ purpose is, first and foremost, “‘to make money,’” describing the “hen as ‘an egg producing machine’”
Singer describes the conditions producers house chickens in, keeping them “in long windowless shed[s]” or in “tiers of cages in order to get more birds into the same size shed” (21). Cage is the most common, which Ross calls “battery cages,” and compares them to “to stuffing several hens into a nonlegal sized filing drawer” which “results in a significant increase in the risk of Salmonella foodborne disease” (169). Ross corroborates this claim with a study from the European Union that compared the risk of Salmonella from cage-free eggs to battery-caged eggs and found that, compared to battery-caged eggs, “there was 77% less Salmonella infection among cage-free hens and 93% less Salmonella contamination in organic and free-range hens than in battery-caged production” (171). Furthermore, the cages are not the only unethical practice responsible for the spread of Salmonella. Singer explains that “every aspect of the bird’s environment is controlled to make them grow faster on less food” (21) and details that these conditions are done in the most cost effective manner rather than the manner that would produce the best product. Producers like Fred C. Haley assert that the egg production business’ purpose is, first and foremost, “‘to make money,’” describing the “hen as ‘an egg producing machine’”