Rolling Stone is running an article about the US pig farming industry. The opening paragraph is a beauty!
Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable pork processor in the world, killed 27 million hogs last year. That’s a number worth considering. A slaughter-weight hog is fifty percent heavier than a person. The logistical challenge of processing that many pigs each year is roughly equivalent to butchering and boxing the entire human populations of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Charlotte, El Paso, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston, Denver, Louisville, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Las Vegas, Portland, Oklahoma City and Tucson.
The rest of the article is here.
Smithfield’s response is here. If as they claim the article is false then I’m sure they’ll sue RS for libel. Somehow I don’t think we’re going to see that lawsuit though.
Here’s a Google Maps satellite photo showing one of Smithfields ponds, via Hacker News.
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