The Truth About Beef on National Hamburger Day

by Annie Hartnett · 2010-05-28 10:39:00 UTC
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Today, May 28, is National Hamburger Day. Americans consume over 14 billion hamburgers a year. A McDonald's hamburger costs about two dollars. But what does one hamburger cost the animals?

One hamburger can contain the meat of hundreds of different cows, even from different slaughterhouses. Most beef cattle spend the last months of their lives at feed lots.

At the feed lot, cattle are pumped full of hormones, antibiotics, and fattening feed. Their feed is corn-based, but often contains the meat of pigs, chickens, and turkeys. It also legally can contain road kill and euthanized cats and dogs, as well as fecal waste from cattle, pigs, or chickens. As cows are designed to eat grass, they need roughage in order to digest their food. Plastic pellets are often used instead of natural fiber.

After a few weeks on the feedlot, cattle are sent to the slaughterhouse. The cattle are stunned before they are hung upside down and bled to death. The stunning process often does not render them unconscious and they remain kicking as a knife is stuck in their throat.

Beyond the cost to the animals, there's also the environmental impact of a hamburger. The manufacture of a single hamburger takes enough fossil fuel to drive a small car 25 miles. According to The Rainforest Action Network, 55 square feet of rainforest are destroyed for the production of every hamburger.

What's the harm in one hamburger? Well, if you ask Stephanie Smith, a lot. Stephanie Smith was a former dance instructor, and thanks to one hamburger, she will never walk again. Stephanie ate a largely vegetarian diet, rarely eating hamburgers. But the one she happened to eat was contaminated with fecal matter, which carries E.coli bacteria. She suffered seizures after eating the burger and was kept in a medically induced coma for three months. She is now paralyzed, with cognitive problems and kidney damage. Stephanie's case against beef producer Cargill Inc. was settled earlier this month.

Still looking for a way to celebrate National Hamburger Day? I recommend the veggie burger.

Photo Credit: Big Frank

Annie Hartnett is a writer and animal advocate who has worked for several wildlife rehabilitation centers and environmental programs.

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