FARMED TO DEATH
15 years undercover on the trail of the global meat industry
Award-winning food journalist Andrew Wasley has spent the best part of two decades investigating the hidden costs of cheap meat. He’s revealed the brutal conditions inside factory farms and abattoirs, exposed the devastating environmental impacts of industrial agribusiness and uncovered shocking food safety scandals that put the health of millions at risk. This is the full, inside story of his journey into the heart of the global meat machine. Photo journalist Jo-Anne McArthur has been documenting the lives of animals, including those used for food, for nearly 20 years. Her award-winning reportage has taken her to more than sixty countries.
Beyond a dense strip of forest, off a narrow single-track road in north west Poland, is what looks to the casual observer to be a man-made fishing lake, or perhaps a small reservoir. But as you approach, an appalling stench and a giant factory-style building begin to suggest otherwise.
This is no ordinary lake. It is an open cesspit, a vast lagoon full to bursting with waste from the nearby industrial-scale pig farm. Floating beneath the surface of the lagoon are the bodies of an unidentifiable number of dead pigs in various stages of decomposition.
