The harms of industrial food production: How modern agriculture, livestock rearing and food processing contribute to disease, environmental degradation and worker exploitation
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2021
Department/School
Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology
Publication Title
The Palgrave Handbook of Social Harm
Abstract
While ‘you are what you eat,’ people know little about food’s journey to their plate and miss important information about their relationship to labor, animals and the environment. This chapter counters ‘food alienation’ to expose harms that go beyond food crimes and food fraud to larger unjust and unsustainable arrangements, so people can better align their diet with their values and health goals. For example, growing crops causes environmental degradation and the exploitation of farm labor. Concentrated animal feeding operations/factory farms result in suffering to animals and health risks to people. Ultra-processed food leads to a variety of health conditions, and meatpacking/slaughterhouse work inflicts suffering on animals and hazards to workers. Individual choice about consumption improves some harms, but government and industry provide limited support for consumer agency, and structural changes are necessary to create a sustainable food production system.
Recommended Citation
Leighton, P. (2021). The harms of industrial food production: How modern agriculture, livestock rearing and food processing contribute to disease, environmental degradation and worker exploitation. In P. Davies, P. Leighton, & T. Wyatt (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of social harm (pp. 199–225). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72408-5_9
Comments
P. Leighton is a faculty member in EMU's Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology.