As we began discussing the production of food, I instantly began to recap the concerns in Upton Sinclair’s, “The Jungle”. Sinclair exposed the horrendous working surroundings within the meat-packing industry during the beginning of the twentieth century. He described how the meat appeared to be rotten, and filthy. Sinclair expressed how employees would process lifeless, wounded, and sickly animals preceding regular hours once all meat inspectors were no longer in the factory (1). It is revealed that meat sales began to decrease once the public were knowledgeable of the acts which took place within the meat-packing plants (2). Sinclair’s idea of the meat-packing industry in my opinion correlates with what we now refer to as corporate farms. Although, I am hopeful that the cruelty level has diminished, yet, how can one be sure? In a USA Today news article, it was revealed that some meat companies are now using Carbon Monoxide in order to make old meat appear to be more appealing to consumers. After reading this article, I realized that no, the meat packaging plants may not be processing diseased meat as within “The Jungle” yet, they are continuously endangering consumers by using Carbon Monoxide which could possibly be as bad as using diseased meats. American’s are so greedy, that they are eager to do whatever it takes to make money.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIwx3nVIRsU&feature=related
"BRIA 24 1 B Upton Sinclairs The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry." CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION Bill of Rights in Action. 2011. Web. <http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-24-1-b-upton-sinclairs-the-jungle-muckraking-the-meat-packing-industry.html>.
"Meatpacking in America: Still a Jungle Out There? . NOW | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. 15 Dec. 2006. Web. <http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/250/meat-packing.html>.
Schmit, Julie. "Carbon Monoxide Keeps Meat Red Longer; Is That Good? - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-10-30-kalsec-meat-carbon-monoxide_N.htm
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Bantam, 1981
This post is very disturbing to me. The thought of what they do to the animals is absolutely terrifying. Also, what they are adding to the meat in order to make more money once the regulators are gone is a very scary thought. It is so hard to imagine that some companies could sink so low in order to make profits and I have to wonder if it currently is as bad as this post declares due to our recent economic state. I personally could not be a vegetarian and meat is an important part of my diet. It is hard to think of ways that the companies can be regulated more closely if they are currently finding loop holes in the current system. I do not believe that things would change drastically unless people were beginning to become sick from the meat and fingers started pointing at the company.
ReplyDelete-Melissa Worker
Good post and comment--must say that people are getting sick as the CDC reports:
ReplyDeleteEvery day, about 200,000 Americans are sickened by contaminated food. Every year, about 325,000 are hospitalized by a food-borne illness. And the number who are killed annually by something they ate is roughly the same as the number of Americans who’ve been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. (CDC 2010)
But people are not making the connection between the bad food they eat and how they feel. I am always struck by how many students email me that they are sick because of something they ate--and then there are those who just say they are feeling bad and can't come to class.
It's shocking to hear that some of our meat contains carbon monoxide. I also believe that this is probably not the worst of it. We constantly eat food without a strong understanding of what is in it or where it came from.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting to note the importance of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" on the public. It had statistical effects on the way Americans think about their food. In many ways, this book opened America's eyes and created a buzz about the food industry. This is what we need today. Some sort of powerful publication (book, news, documentary) that enters into the center of the media. Something that is so alarming that people can't resist taking note. This would be a great first step to changing America's mentality about the food system, which hopefully would result in a positive change in public policy and regulation.
I completely agree that it's important to draw correlations between Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and our factory farms and slaughterhouses today. In fact, while doing research last year, I actually found that factory farms do, in fact, ship diseased cattle to the slaughterhouses and they are packaged into meat to be shipped to supermarkets. These diseased cattle are called, "downer cows", cows that are too sick or weak to stand without assistance (Washington Post, 2008). Even the USDA has stated that they won't implement an outright ban on the shipment of these downer cows to slaughterhouses, but they will make more impromptu inspections (Washington Post, 2008).
ReplyDeleteNot only do diseases get passed in that way, but also through cattle excrement. As we saw in "Food Inc", cows stand ankle deep in their own excrement all day and if even one cow is carrying a disease, it can be spread to all of the cattle around it. Overall, there is a lot that should be done to protect Americans from the diseases that cows can possibly be carrying, as well as alerting the public about the dangers in their dinner.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022804117.html
I think it is sad that I am no longer surprised to hear something like this. I find the big food production companies are one of the biggest problems with our country. To have people with such a responsibility to their consumers (since they are distributing something that we physically consume) and for there to be such a lack of care for their product is disgusting. Do these people take no pride in their business as well as their fellow citizens? It is this lack of responsibility and how these business owners get away with practically murder makes America seem like the worst country on earth. It is one thing to treat animals they way we have seen in things like Food Inc. but to treat people with the same inhumanity makes me fear what I buy at Mejier every month. Although all these people must be fed (now that our population has reached 7 billion) that is no excuse for being this okay with mixing meat with carbon monoxide. There are many things we need to change about this country and we should start with how we feed the people.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading "The Jungle" in high school and it definitely had a lasting effect on me. Upton Sinclair definitely brought the horrors of those times alive in his composition. It does not surprise me that companies still engage in some of these immoral acts in the interest of selling bad products to make money. Seeing these problems happen in modern society as well as back in the early 20th century is a stark comparison.
ReplyDeleteThe practice of injecting food with gas to make them look edible is completely disgusting. Where is the US government while this is going on? Instead of the US government being MIA the entire time, it should step in and advocate for the health of the adults and children across the country. Isn't the government paid to protect us. They need to get their act together and actually do their job.
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