For most meat eaters, how their meat gets from hoof to grille is of little concern. They worry more about getting large amounts, from hand to mouth, as fast as possible. What gets their attention is when a favorite grille cut is sold out, burger prices increase, or the fast food window is closed for repairs.
Even those outside of Chicago cannot forget the meatpacker's story, told in the 1906 by Upton Sinclair in his novel, "The Jungle." Meatpacking, like most industries then, overworked their people. Meatpackers worked with poor sanitation and the danger of injury. In many cases today, that has not changed.
Sinclair exposed the underbelly of meatpacking and focused lawmakers' attention as the workers, usually new immigrants and African Americans, organized. Today, the meatpacking industry no longer feels compelled to operate near rail hubs or large cities. As they relocate closer to ranchers and farmers in more rural locations, some protections of the union organizations have weakened. Today, the meatpacking industry is, once again, operating almost unfettered by regulation. See Smithfield workers seek justice.
Another casualty, in the loosely regulated meatpacking industry, is the animals. As the industry developed multimillion-dollar operations, they began gobbling up producers. The result is that the condition in which an animal lives is of little importance as reflected in the industry's inhumane confinements and treatment of livestock. Once livestock was categorized as production units, their lives changed in the cruelest of ways. In America, production became another name for greed and the animal/human relationship, which honored the well-being of the animal soon to give its life for human consumption, was lost. How we treat our animals speaks to who we are as a society.
In the past 120 years, the meatpacking industry marketers have successfully developed strong appetites in the public for meat and an even stronger desire for it to be cheap. They encourage eating fast, making real taste irrelevant. Filler and chemicals are added to make less genuine product look good and voluminous and, voila, you have the modern Western Diet and sick, fat Americans. Increased production and taxpayer subsidies have resulted in increased meat production and the product sold artificially cheap. As the industrial animal operations grow, greater profit is achieved at the cost of the short-lived miserable reality of the animals. See Smithfield's pig operation.
Coincidently, in the past 120 years, the numbers of major meatpackers has dwindled, or more precisely processors have been gobbled up so that there are now just four; Tyson, Cargill, Brazil-based JBS, and National Beef. These four represent 80 percent of the U.S. beef market, Smithfield Foods is the largest pork producer/processor and Tyson remains the largest chicken meatpacker. This consolidation has more than doubled the meatpacker's power and is slowly putting the small and middle-sized ranchers out of business. See Ranchers petiton for enforcement of the 1921 Packers and Stock Yard Act - Feb. 2011
How does fewer meat packers and inhumane treatment of livestock affect the omnivore with spatula in hand, wearing the grille apron? When fewer meatpackers control production and packing, choices are limited and broad scale contamination risks are more likely. Omnivores who oppose inhumane treatment of animals, want to know what meatpacker's brands to avoid. When spending precious food dollars, responsible omnivores want all the nutrition available, in reasonable amounts, at fair prices.
This month it was reported that over half of all grocery market meats were contaminated with drug resistant bacteria. Another good reason to try to buy local. Many small farmers humanly raise livestock and are open to the public. Some deliver into larger metropolitan areas and participate in neighborhood Farmer's Markets. Many have eggs and chickens available as well.
Education and responsible consuming are the best defenses for protecting you and your family's well-being.
