Somewhere along the way, Jonathan Safran Foer or his publishers must have realized that the case he makes against American animal farming doesn't apply tidily to Britain (or to most of Europe). So he's added a "Preface to the U.K. Edition," in which he claims that "a remarkably similar story could be told about animal farming in the United Kingdom." In the next sentence, however, he admits that "there are some important differences: sow stalls (gestation crates) and veal creates [sic, and this is not the only sign of haste in the writing of this preface] are banned in the U.K., whereas they are the norm in America; poultry slaughter is almost certainly less cruel."
Of course Mr. Foer says the similarities between U.K. and U.S. food-animal welfare standards are "far more, and more important" than the differences. But he has already ceded the ethical high ground to British livestock farmers; and you have to wonder why he's bothered to publish here a book whose "statistics refer to American agriculture." Let us deconstruct.
To read the entire article, link here.
