Letter to Editor: Consumers want meat raised in sustainable way
Dear Editor:
In response to the “Maryland Bills: Winners and losers” section on the Poultry Litter Management Act, I would like to note that last week a survey released by Environment Maryland made it clear that consumers across the country, and in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, are ready for meat that was raised in a sustainable way.
Currently, poultry litter pollutes the Bay helping create the massive dead zones that the Bay experiences in the warm months. Not only is this upsetting as we enter the season when so many families will be boating through the Bay and spending time on the shore, but this also threatens many Marylanders drinking water.
The survey found that 74 percent of people surveyed in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed would consider spending more on food that doesn’t negatively impact the environment. People are willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to cleaning up our beloved Bay.
Fortunately, doing so doesn’t have to cost consumers and certainly can save taxpayer dollars. It’s time that the industrial poultry industry in Maryland clean up their act and demonstrate that manure is not ending up in the Chesapeake Bay.
Jessie Mehrhoff
Environment Maryland
Baltimore, MD 21218
Jessie Mehrhoff is an intern at Environment Maryland