PROCESSED MEAT

--ESSENTIAL QUESTION--

ARE EMPLOYEES AND ANIMALS BEING TREATED WELL IN MEAT PROCESSING PLANTS? SHOULD WE EVEN BE EATING THE MEAT BEING MADE IN THESE PLANTS?

RAISING MEAT

CHICKENS

• Chickens are bred to grow extremely fast
• bone growth may not match the quick muscle growth
• This causes deformities and sometimes death
• They live in small cages and can't move around very often

PIGS

• Mother pigs are kept in cages that they can't turn around in
• When their babies are born, they are in separate cages than their mother and must drink milk through the spaces between bars
• Pigs tails are cut off to prevent them biting each other
• Pigs sit/stand on concrete which deform hooves and causes aggression
• Pigs are often depressed in their confinements

COWS

• Cows are raised most often in small pens with many other cows
• They usually can't all fit without touching eachother
• Cows are exposed to many sicknesses and are often trampled under each other
• Injured cows (who can't walk) are often pushed into slaughterhouses harshly which often injures them further and causes them pain

SLAUGHTERING

CHiCKENS

• Electrical stunning is the most common process used for chickens
• While it does stop them from moving most the time it's not certain whether it stops their feeling of pain and stress
• Chickens do not have separation between their digestive system and heart
• When they are hung upside down their organs squish their hearts, causing pain and discomfort
• Chickens are not treated very well when their alive

COWS

• Cow slaughterhouses have been known to not stun the cows all the way
• This results in them being hung and bled while still conscious
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• The next part is a little gross so be prepared
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-GROSS THINGS AHEAD-

• It's not uncommon for cows to have tumors or growths
• When they are slaughtered, those tumors or growths can be popped
• This causes pus to seep into meat
• Poop can also get into the meat from the skinning process where dried poop and dirt may fall into meat or get caught
• This also happens when organs like the intestines and stomach are removed- half digested food can spill into meat if the workers aren't careful

WORKERS

The demographic for most meat packing plant workers is mostly minority. This is mostly people that are immigrants, refugees, Latino, African, or Southeast Asian there are men and women working there but it's mostly women.

TASKS

• Disassembly (removing organs and splitting the animal into chunks)
• Boxing (packaging meat- usually done in the freezers to be more efficient- many employees can freeze)
• Receiving (shackling or hanging animals- the start of the line)
• Cutting (splitting animals into the different meat cuts)
• All jobs consist of doing the same thing over and over with minimal interruptions

INJURIES

• Meat packing is an extremely dangerous job
• Many people get back injuries
• They also get MSDs (Muscular Skeletal Disorders) and other injuries which the government requires companies to cover
• Big companies often deny that an employee is injured to avoid liability and to avoid payment
• Tyson is a company that has improved its working conditions through more regulated bathroom breaks and things similar
• The risk is still there and it's still hard to speak up especially if English isn't their first language

INJURIES CONT.

• People think that injuries in the workplace has gone down, but they haven't
• What's gone down is the reporting of injuries
• employees nowadays feel scared and threatened into not reporting or complaining about injuries or bad conditions
• Companies have the power to threaten employees into not reporting injuries or else they will get fired
• Many employees don't want to get fired or risk it because without that job they could get deported or become homeless

RULES

• Law requires companies to provide medical help to injured employees
• The fine for a death is very low, especially for the size and wealth of the companies
• OSHA only requires companies to pay $11,000 if someone is permanently injured or if they die

RECAP

• Animals are often abused and standards in packing companies are usually cruel for them
• Animals are raised in very small enclosures and often are depressed
• Employees face injuries and death risks every day when on the job
• Laws and rules aren't enforced very well in big company meat processing/packing plants

The answer to the essential question is that no, the animals and workers aren't treated well. The workers might be treated almost as bad as the animals are. The answer the the second part is probably no. I think that if you want to eat meat, it should be from local farms and butcher shops where animals aren't abused and workers aren't treated like dirt.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Westfeild, Liz, et al. “Is Meatpacking Safe For Workers?; Breastfeeding Spaces In Public Schools; Managing Holiday Stress.” Illinois Public Media, 14 Dec. 2017, will.illinois.edu/21stshow/program/is-meatpacking-safe-for-workers-breastfe....
• Schlosser, Eric, and Charles Wilson. Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know about Fast Food. Houghton Mifflin, 2007.

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