The average American consumes almost 200 pounds of meat each year (Bittman 1). With the population expanding and the demand for meat increasing, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) were constructed for the mass production of meat. CAFOs are "corporate-owned, highly-mechanized, fuel-intensive factory farms where large numbers of animals are confined in a small amount of space" (Robinson 11). CAFOs are efficient in the sense that they are the cheapest way to feed the most Americans the meat they desire, but researches have begun to raise questions about the impact of factory farms on the environment, the animals, and even humans. When people buy hamburgers or chicken nuggets from Burger King do we ever think about how that delicious, juicy meat got into our hands? That is a question worth asking.
             Researchers like Jo Robinson, author of Pasture Perfect, are concerned about the treatment of animals in CAFOs; They argue that such treatment is inhumane. Robinson was able to visit a chicken factory, and she was exposed to the treatment of chickens. In CAFOs, hens that are raised to lay eggs live with three to five other chickens in a cage with about 55 square inches for each bird to move (Robinson 20). Cattle are also placed in confinement because it restricts movement of the animals causing them to burn fewer calories (King Corn). Restricted movement also encourages round-the-clock eating which, combined with a lack of exercise, causes swift weight gain (King Corn). Chickens that are kept in close quarters sometimes have their upper beaks are cut off so they don't get in fights and harm each other (Robinson 20).
             In addition to being put in confinement, chickens are forced to have an extremely high egg output. Original laying hens from Southeast Asia lay just a "few clutches of eggs each year," but today hens are laying about 300 eggs each year (Robinson 19-20). Robinson explains that hens are given ...