Real talk: Lunch is supposed to be the best part of any school day. It’s a time to catch up with friends and get that much-needed energy boost to power through afternoon classes. So why do schools serve up slop and mystery meat on the reg? Get ready for your mind to be blown. Let’s break down just how bad your school lunch really is: Chicken Nuggets The sensitive birds who are killed for nuggets are frequently given antibiotics to keep them alive in the filthy, cramped, disease-ridden windowless sheds where they’re raised. They’re often selectively bred to grow so big and so fast that they can’t support their own weight and their legs become crippled. McDonald’s Canada Hot Dogs Another staple of most school cafeterias is the infamous hot dog. Hot dogs are made from the leftover bits of cows and pigs, plus additives like sodium nitrate (which can lead to major health risks, including heart disease), all ground up and sometimes stuffed in a “natural casing,” aka “an animal’s intestines”—gross! Mystery Meat Who knows what—and who—is in mystery meat? But one thing that’s not a mystery is that humans violently take the freedom, bodies, and, ultimately, lives of pigs, cows, and chickens to make this nasty stuff. Farmed animals are treated like machines and often warehoused in tiny cages or crates, until they’re strung up by their legs and their throats are slit—all to make a disgusting product that most students can’t wait to toss in the cafeteria trash bin. And guess what? The whole freaking industry is SKETCH: For decades, the U.S. government has been actively trying to push meat into the American diet by striking deals with Big Ag to drive market prices down. Basically, your parents’ tax dollars (and, soon, yours!) go to buying up excess animal parts to keep these dying (literally) industries from going out of business. Shady. Chicken nuggets, hot dogs, mystery meat, and other animal-derived cafeteria fare are all gross, bad for us, and deadly for animals. #Govegan #VeganAdd #veganpost