Genetically modified corn is the fuel that keeps the meat industry engine running, while also creating numerous problems for the public. Until approximately thirty years ago, cows fed exclusively on grass. Their natural diet, grass-fed cows were extremely healthy. Cows have an incredibly advanced digestive organ called the rumen, which can digest grass and turn it into rich protein ("Modern Meat"). Now, the majority of cows spend their lives eating nothing but corn. Livestock, mostly beef cattle, consume about 60% of America's commodity corn (Pollan 10). The corn monoculture in the United States has led to an overwhelming occurrence of corn in the American diet. However, the corn being produced is packed with genetically modified organisms, pesticides, and other unsafe chemicals. Industrialized farms started feeding this genetically modified corn to livestock because it has more than the cows' natural diet of grass. Predictably, cows that feed on this unnatural, chemical filled corn frequently become sick. Therefore, the cows are forced antibiotics so that they can continue to eat the same chemical changed corn that caused their sickness. Years ago, cows would grow to ages of four and five before they were eaten, and now that time has been reduced to 14 months ("Modern Meat"). Cows are being taken out of the fields as soon as possible and being fed nothing but corn until they are extremely fat, as well as sick. Cost-effectively, it makes no sense to take an animal away from its natural diet and force it to consume a product that will make it sick ("Modern Meat"). Also, the antibiotics used to treat these sicknesses don't just disappear either. They are still present in the meat by the time it arrives on the shelves of our supermarkets. This is only one of many serious threats that agribusiness poses on human health. .
The United States meat industry is so concerned with efficiency and making profits that they've lost regard for human health.