My Paula Deen Problem

I love Paula Deen, I mean, how can anyone not? She's sweet, she's funny, she can even get a little dirty. When you watch her shows you get a real sense of how much she loves her jobs and her food, and that enthusiasm can be contagious. My love for Paula Deen knew no boundaries - she was like Rachael Ray only not as annoying or commercialized!

Lately, though, I've had a hard time justifying my admiration for Paula. The problem started when she signed on to promote Smithfield Pork products. As much as I love Paula, I hate Smithfield. Not only do they have an awful record when it comes to working conditions for their employees, but they are also the world's largest producer of pork products - a title they earned by throwing such niceties and environmental regulations and animal welfare by the wayside.


Smithfield is a prime example of the modern factory farm, slaughtering tens of millions of pigs every year. Their animals are "raised" (I find it hard to use that word in this instance) in absolutely god-awful conditions, squeezed together by the thousands, wallowing in their own feces, and contracting any number of health issues that are solved not by making living conditions more humane but with some cheap and easy antibiotics (which eventually make it into YOUR food) - if treatment is given at all!

If the cruelty to animals angle doesn't appeal to you - think about this. The average adult pig produces THREE TIMES as much urine and excrement as a human. A large factory hog farm can produce up to a half a million pounds of pig waste in a single day! In 1995, spilled pig waste killed over 10 million fish in North Carolina, polluting countless rivers and sickening hundreds of people. In one case an eight acre pond of waste burst, sending 25 million gallons of pig feces and urine into the New River. In another case, Smithfield was fined $12.6 million by the EPA for violating the Clean Water Act, the third largest fine ever levied under the act at the time.

I'm not here to lecture you on the dangers and costs of modern factory farms. I'm here to talk about Paula. She professes to be the ultimate "family woman", and no one would doubt her love and devotion to her sons, her husband, or the rest of her family. How would she feel if her grandson was playing in a river downstream from one of Smithfield's factories? How would she feel if any of her beloved pets were subject to the same cruel and disgusting living (and dying) situations as these pigs? Her partnership with Smithfield implies an endorsement of their practices. I'd like to think that Paula took a close look at Smithfield's operation before she signed up with them, but my guess is the only thing that got her attention was her bank account.

So here I am, stuck with a love for a woman who's actions are antithetical to everything I am learning, everything I am working towards, everything I hope to spend my life battling. I'm not one for rash decisions, but I may just have to impose a Paula Deen boycott on myself.

Resources:
Pork's Dirty Secret, Rolling Stone, Dec. 2006
United Food and Commerical Workers Smithfield Fact Sheet
The Ethics of What We Eat, by Peter Singer & Jim Mason (Amazon)
...and the other side:
Smithfield's page on Corporate Social Responsibility, Animal Welfare, etc.