Food Crimes, Harms and Carnist Technologies

This chapter explores some of the ways in which technologies designed to meet human demand for animal based foods, which this chapter terms carnist technologies, facilitate or remedy food crimes and harms. First-generation carnist technologies designed to achieve increased efficiency in animal rearing, as well as second-generation technologies for ‘happy meat’, cellular agriculture, and plant-based analogues of animal products as are all considered. The latter two technologies hold promise for reducing some of the key harms tied to demand for animal products, but leave other harms unaddressed. None of the technologies are found to fully challenge carnism, and may also perpetuate or even compound more systemic food crimes given the extent to which developers and promoters have embraced neoliberal principles. The benefits of these technologies should be recognized, but advocates must acknowledge the limitations of a techno-fix approach to what is ultimately a social problem requiring more significant reforms.

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