Given the volume of chicken, beef, and pork we eat (in the U.S., 32 million cattle, 90 million pigs, and 7 billion chickens yearly), how economical would it be to have a meticulous, comprehensive inspection system doing a thorough inspection of each food unit? Not very. So what the meat-eater gets to play at dinnertime is pathogen roulette.
Even though the animals are dead they still have a lot of life left in them in the name of pathogens such as salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, Trichinosis, Yersinia Enterocolitica, Clostridium Perfringens, Staphylococcus Aureus, and Listeria. Oh sure, not all of the dead animals contain these bacterium, then again its estimated that animal-source foods (as opposed to plant-source) result in 95 percent of the 76 million cases of gastrointestinal illness, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths every year.
The state of meat inspection, or lack thereof, probably doesn’t make the top 10 list of reasons why we shouldn’t be consuming animals and their byproducts of dairy, eggs, and the like. But if the thought of live animals crawling around in your morning, noon, or evening meal ends your desire for these foods, then let’s just leave it with: the ends justifies the means.