Cheap Red Meat

Chapter 4 of The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

In an attempt to continue his tailing of corn to the dinner table, Pollan introduces the beef industry, the biggest destination of the plentiful biomass. Pollan's recollection of a visit to Poky Feeders feedlot in 'nowhere', Kansas is part of his observation of the raising of a young black steer, referred to throughout the chapter as 534. Pollan had bought 534 when it was eight months old, knowing it's destiny was to be a protein-rich meal.

Pollan continually refers to his steer as 534, never giving it a name after purchase. He also packs the chapter full of statistics: it takes ten acres of land to produce a calf ready for the feelot, a steer can grow from 80 lbs to 1,100 lbs in 14 months, 534 will convert 32 lbs of feed into 4 lbs of gain everyday up until his slaughter. Pollan continually uses numbers in order to objectify cattle, specifically 534. All of this is a setup to enable the reader to see the steer the same way the industry does, "as a most impressive machine for turning number 2 field corn into cuts of beef" (pg 80).

After the first two chapters, it was easy to be left with questions about the backwards relationship between corn prices and corn production. Pollan continually connects back to corn in order to demonstrate its intertwining relationship with feedlots and beef production. By demonstrating the dependency of the feedlots on corn, it is easier to see the slippery slope cheap beef has made farmers a part of.

The path the book seems to be following is the efficiency of the food industry in supplying cheap food.. but at what other costs? How many of you are willing to eat meat from cattle that has been pumped full of food unnatural to their diet and then antibiotics to deal with that foreign diet, if it costs half the price as grass fed beef? You answer this question every time you go to the grocery store and purchase cheap red meat. Although it may not be monetarily expensive, you are paying a price in terms of the petroleum used during production and possible health effects later in life.

?? Questions ??
1) Is beef sold in grocery stores labeled with where cattle came from or some other way to determine how the cattle were raised?

2) Are there similar health concerns with chicken, salmon, and other animals raised on corn?