11 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Burgers

1. Cows Are Subjected to Painful Mutilations Without Painkillers


Farmers burn or saw off the horns of cattle without anesthetics. This cruel practice, which often leads to infection, is 100 percent legal.

2. One Burger Could Contain Meat From 100 Cows


The Washington Post explains that “meat patties aren’t just made from the muscle tissue of a single animal, but from the fibers of as many as a hundred cows, or even more. We mix different kinds of cow tissue like one combines colors on a palette, potentially putting animals that once grazed next to each other into tightly packed beef discs.

3. Beef Is Murder on the Environment


Most consumers focus on reducing their CO2 emissions or their carbon footprints. But methane and nitrous oxide, produced by cattle digestion and fertilization of soil, respectively, are much more powerful greenhouse gases. They easily make animal agriculture one of the leading causes of climate change.

4. Many Dairy Cows End Up Hamburger Meat


Weak, lame, sick, and injured, “spent” dairy cows are often brutally electric prodded, beaten, and even dragged before being slaughtered and processed into ground beef.

5. Feedlots Are Breeding Grounds for Dangerous Bacteria


On modern farms, antibiotics are used to make animals grow faster and keep them alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them. Bacteria can develop resistance to these antibiotics, making it virtually impossible to treat humans who become infected by these “superbugs.”

6. Hamburgers Contribute to Rainforest Destruction


The World Bank reports that the majority of Amazon deforestation has been to clear land for cattle grazing and growing feed for farmed animals.

7. No Federal Laws Protect Cows for the Majority of Their Lives


Unfortunately, not a single federal law protects animals during their lives on factory farms. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act pertains to cows and pigs only at the slaughterhouse, providing zero protection to them for the majority of their lives.

8. Beef Requires a Shocking Amount of Water


It takes a staggering 2,500 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef and 660 gallons of water to produce one hamburger. That’s enough water for two months’ worth of showers!

9. Your Burger Could Be Made With Pink Slime


This vomit-worthy product is created by treating beef scraps and cow connective tissue with ammonium hydroxide to kill off E. coli, salmonella, and other dangerous pathogens that may be present.

10. It Takes 16 Pounds of Grain to Produce Just One Pound of Beef


If that grain were fed to people instead of cows, there’d be a whole lot more mouths we could feed.

11. Cows Are Incredibly Smart


Cows have great memories, can learn and respond to their names, get excited when they solve problems, and love music! Despite this, factory farmers treat them as meat-producing machines.

We can take a stand for animals, the environment, and our own health by ditching beef and other animal products.

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