How many cows does it take to make a burger?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2009/10/the_world_is_flat_kind_of_gros.cfm

by cwan • 17 years ago

6 26 17 years ago

jeremymims2• 17 years ago

You know what's sick? The fact that we slaughter 10 billion sentient, thinking animals in the United States each year. And then we have the nerve to be appalled that a tiny sliver of that suffering is transferred to humans. There are not enough words to describe how misguided we all are.

moron4hire6• 17 years ago

I really don't think you can fairly call cows sentient. Along with chickens and turkeys, they are some of the dumbest creatures around. They're barely more than walking vegetables.

justlearning2• 17 years ago

I had to reply as I accidentally upvoted you.

I don't want to get into meat vs veg, but considering meat as "walking vegtables" is inhumane thought.

Have you spent some time with any animals? Go spend some time with some hens/roosters and their chickens. spend a day watching - watch how the mother hen teaches her chickens to hop over obstacles and the chickens trying to find the shortest path to hop over. Watch how each individual chickens have their own personality. Watch the roosters personality - dominance/sexual drive...

My maternal grandfather had cows back in India. Every cow would respond differently. He would talk to them, The calf would listen to him(when he would milk the cow, the calf would get impatient for mumma's milk). One of the cows wouldn't allow anyone other than my grand mom/grandfather to milk her.I have more anecdotes, which helps me in connecting them animals and us animals.

So much for walking vegetables!. Perhaps you are just visiting here. Perhaps you are here for the long run, but imho, please spend a lot of time reading here(searchyc for archives) before commenting.

jeremymims2• 17 years ago

Sentience is being able to experience pleasure or pain (which cows certainly do), not a measure of intelligence. We do not execute young children or the mentally disabled nor do we enslave them.

ibnez1206• 17 years ago

moron4hire,

You'd be less intelligent too if you'd been selectively bred for thousands of years to promote complacence and stupidity.

Still, to call farm animals "barely more than walking vegetables" is highly uninformed. Pigs, for one, have been shown to be about as intelligent as dogs. Cows have been shown to celebrate after solving problems. Chickens and turkeys seem to be less intelligent, but they are nonetheless worthy of serious moral consideration.

ludwig• 17 years ago

I can't wait until we can grow meat and other organs in "standalone-mode". There wouldn't be any need for slaughter when we reach that level of technology.

samanthapcohen• 17 years ago

I assume you mean "How many cows does it take to make a hamburger?" A good question with a disgusting answer. According to the same NYT article on the E. coli-ridden burger that paralyzed a children's dance instructor, "a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses." Sources vary on the precise number, but on average they report that in a single burger there are parts from 50-100 distinct cows. That number ignores the pieces of still other cows ground into the food eaten by the cows in the burger.

Better answer: Zero! Eat delicious veggie burgers instead.

moron4hire6• 17 years ago

"Delicious" is certainly up to interpretation. Additionally, if "meat is murder", then why so many "fake murder" products?

I don't really see what the issue is with the article. So hamburgers are a homogeneous mix of meat from multiple cows. I never had deep-seated convictions that they only came from one cow in the first place. Does a bag of frozen vegetable medley come from one plant? Does it even come from one plant per type of vegetable?

danielmims5• 17 years ago

The significance of a hamburger being comprised of many different pieces of multiple cows is that it's hard to track and there are higher-risk meats than others. For example, meat that resided near the intestines/colon has a much a higher risk of e. coli contamination.

Honestly, I'm with you in my lack of concern, but probably for a different reason. It is a very small justice that meat-eaters should get e. coli from time to time.

How many cows does it take to make a burger?

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