Deaths Per Calorie

A study was recently published by Scientific American showing how many calories farm animals produce during their lifetimes. While chicken tops the list at providing 3,000 calories of meat for every slaughtered broiler chicken, eggs are a surprising runner-up, with 20,625 calories produced during the average lifespan of a laying hen. Beef and pork products account for more calories per each animal slaughtered, putting them in the middle. Milk and cheese were the least fatal products, producing around 17.6 million and 13.3 million calories given per lifespan of a dairy cow, respectively. The chart shows that while many people forgo meat consumption in attempt to reduce the deaths of animals, eggs and dairy consumption still has a profound impact, due to the fact that cows and chickens are often slaughtered at an early age, once they stop producing at a profitable level for factory farms.