Summary: David Kirby reveals some shocking facts behind the meat and dairy farming system in the country, and how these factory farms may threaten our health.<br> <br> Host: Gloria Tsang, RD<br> Guest: David Kirby<br> <br> Many of us are paying more attention on where our fruits and veggies come from, and how they are grown. What about meat? David Kirby, journalist and author of Animal Factory, reveals some shocking facts behind the meat and dairy farming system in the country, and how these factory farms may threaten our health.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Transcript:<br> Gloria Tsang, RD: Many of us are paying attention on where our fruits and veggies come from and how they are grown. What about meat? Welcome to the Nutrition Tidbits Podcast. This is Gloria Tsang, Editor-in-Chief for HealthCastle.com. Joining me today is journalist and author David Kirby. Author of the book Animal Factory. He is here today to reveal some shocking facts behind the meat and dairy farming system in the country and how these factory farms may threaten our health. Thank you for joining me David.<br> <br> David Kirby: Thank you. I am very happy to be here.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: In your book, you said the idea of the Old McDonald’s Farm is the thing of the past. And that CAFO is the new form, What exactly is CAFO?<br> <br> David Kirby: CAFO is a government designation that stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. Most people know that as a factory farm. I almost prefer the term factory farm; at least it has the word farm in it. To think that you are getting your food from a concentrated feeding operation is kind of Orwellian. It says a lot because they cram hundreds or thousands of animals in to very small spaces that are not healthy for the animals or the workers and generate massive amounts of manure and waste that is typically liquefied, stored for a while in a lagoon that can off gas and cause air and water pollution; and then, sprayed on to fields where it’s often over applied and you get run-off, over nutrification of water waste and fish kills.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: From your description, I can clearly picture the environmental impact. What about the health of the animals? Do you have any data about how healthy or unhealthy these animals are?<br> <br> David Kirby: Yes, there is more and more data emerging. One of the biggest problems is over reliance on antibiotics of course to promote growth and stave off disease. But that does lead to the emergence of antibiotic resistance disease, which can be passed on to humans including MRSA. The other problems is, when animals are crammed together, it is very hard to scientifically measure the psychological well being of an animal. But you can imagine that it is miserable for them. I like animals and when I see a cow in a mega dairy, it looks pretty miserable to me, compared to a cow that is out on pasture with her calves eating grass and taking in fresh air and sunshine. However, we can measure some of the health effects. There are some studies that show animals kept in confinement in concentrated numbers fed a steady ration of feed that is not really what they meant to eat, and there is a lot of aggression and fighting because of the over-crowding, they get stressed out. When animals get stressed out, just like us, their immune systems become compromised. Of course, they are often overdosed on antibiotics and vaccines and things like that. So they are more prone to disease, certain diseases and infections. Also, we are now learning that stressed out animals with immune problems are more likely to shed their pathogens that they are carrying. In other words, more likely to infect other animals and humans in the transportation and caring and feeding of the animals.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: You mentioned the use of antibiotics and the health conditions of these animals, how do these conditions impact our health,
