Yes, I hate Paula Deen...here's why... [View all]

[joeybee12]

http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/smithfield-foods-exposed-for-more-cruelty-at-factory-farms.html



Despite what seems like increased media attention on some of the cruelty and environmental abuses at factory farms over the last year, the worst practices continue unchecked. The latest exposé comes from a factory farm owned by a subsidiary of the world's largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods. Through an undercover investigation in Virginia, the Humane Society of the U.S. caught horrific treatment of female pigs and piglets on video.The video even has Mark Bittman riled up and calling for action:

I'm usually not one to cry "boycott," but if you, like Paula Deen, are a Smithfield supporter - in fact, if you're still eating industrially raised pork (or chicken or beef or fish for that matter) - get real. Any industry (and Smithfield is hardly alone, though it does seem to be performing most egregiously) that operates with such infuriating disregard for the welfare of their animals deserves all the trouble we can muster.

The summary of the investigation is available online, and the video of the Smithfield farm below, which illustrates female pigs crammed into gestation crates too small to let them move around, which often leads to the pigs biting the bars of the crates.