Producing protein

Fractionation of animal bodies, mass consumption of cheap protein, and the value of protein sourced from industrial hog operations

Abstract

This article claims that the pursuit of protein specifically, not meat in general, is woven into the very fabric of industrial hog farming and the devalued animals at its centre. Further, this piece forces a critical lens and reclassification of the value of protein sourced from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), using Goodman, Sorj and Wilkinson’s (1987) concepts of substitutionism and appropriationism as a framework to unpack how hog production in Canada is structured on producing protein for mass consumption. Lastly, this article categorically extends the work of Goodman et al., (1987) to argue that hogs are not only industrialized within a capitalist food system, but now hog flesh is able to supplant or be used interchangeably with other forms of protein – a sort of proteinaceous substitutionism: the creation of generic, atomized, protein inputs. Commodity hogs are so valueless, the animal now exists to be a source of cheap protein.