Source:  Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 8/2/17



Pollutants and toxins associated with meat processing are being blamed for what’s being described as an oxygen-deprived “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico the size of the state of New Jersey.

The environmental group Mighty Earth released a report it claims identifies the meat companies primarily responsible for widespread manure and fertilizer pollution that adversely affected grasslands and watersheds in addition to the Gulf.

The report specifically cited Tyson Foods as having an “expansive footprint” in all of the regions the group said are suffering the worst pollution impacts from industrial meat and feed production. Mighty Earth said Tyson produces one out of every five pounds of meat produced in the United States and is the “only meat company with major processing facilities in each of the states listed by the U.S. Geological Survey as contributing the highest levels of pollution to the Gulf.”

The organization said it studied the largest meat processors and found that Tyson was the dominant meat company in regions suffering the worst environmental impacts. These areas included grassland clearing in Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas and manure and fertilizer pollution from feed production moving through Heartland waterways to the Gulf states.

In a statement, Tyson said it “doesn’t agree with the group’s characterization of the company, but shares its interests in protecting the environment.” Tyson added in an email to Meatingplace that it is working with the World Resources Institute to develop goals for improving its environmental footprint and plans to announce a collaboration with other third-party organizations to help set additional science-based targets. The processor also said the report failed to note that a large percentage of U.S.-raised corn beyond supplying the livestock and poultry industry is used for biofuel and a significant portion is used for human consumption.

The report arrives in the wake of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) prediction in June that this summer’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone would be the third-largest recorded since monitoring began 32 years ago. The estimated dead zone of 8,185 square miles, about the size of New Jersey, will be significantly larger than the average area of low or no oxygen in the Gulf of 5,309 square feet, NOAA said.

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