Continuing the thread from below, the NYT had a major story about McDonald's and other burger chains forcing change on the meat industry and the way it treats animals in their factory farms. Temple Grandin is cited for her work, deservedly so. She's an interesting character herself.

Also, today the Times takes a look at the fertilizer spread on fields and the health problems associated with the use of recycled sewer sludge. The runoff (feces, antibiotics, fertilizer) from the factory farms, particularly the enormous cattle feedlots in the Midwest, is making its way into water tables and creating pollution in lakes, rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm not interested in focussing this blog on these issues, but I did spend almost a year investigating the meat industry and there are a multitude of good stories related to these topics. Estimates (and I think they're low) are that 5,000 people a year die from bad meat, and a lot of them are children. It's only a matter of time until another deadly outbreak, similar to the one in the early 1990's that hit Jack in the Box, occurs again. When it does, it'll be worse, because of the consolidation of slaughter facilities and distribution operations in the meat industry.