The Dirty Secret of America’s Slaughterhouse Industry

Americans are inundated with the message, “Meat is a way of life” from close knit family interactions at barbeques to close-ups of sizzling burgers in fast food commercials. We have one of the highest rates of flesh consumption in the world, with the average person consuming around 200 pounds worth of animal bodies per year. However, that burger or piece of a chicken on your plate comes at the high cost of human and animal suffering.

Slaughterhouses process massive numbers of animals. In 2013, 8.6 billion chickens, 33.2 million cattle, and 112 million pigs died brutal and terrifying deaths in slaughterhouses, often remaining conscious as they bled out, before being dismembered, packaged, and delivered to your local supermarket or restaurant.

Over 500,000 workers are employed in slaughterhouses in the United States. These workers face low wages and increasingly dangerous conditions as companies push for faster and faster slaughter. According to Oxfam’s “Lives on the Line,” workers stand shoulder to shoulder wielding sharp knives in freezing temperatures, where they fight to keep their balance on floors slippery with blood and fat. They pull, hack, and twist for hours, often without even basic bathroom breaks.

Pedro, a former poultry worker for Tyson, says, “Many people have to urinate in their pants because they don’t let us go to the bathroom.”

Workers lose fingers or stab themselves in the arms or legs. Others suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome and cramping, numbness, and deformity in their hands. Medical treatment is often confined to basic first aid. For some, their injuries lead to permanent disability. Many experience psychological trauma and depression.

Meat is a multi-million dollar industry, but workers see little of this profit. According to Oxfam, “For every dollar spent on McDonald’s McNuggets, only about two cents goes to processing workers.” An increasing trend in the industry has been to hire immigrants and refugees, creating a silent and disposable workforce. Jamie Fellner of Human Rights Watch says, “The meatpacking companies hire immigrant workers because they are often the only ones who will work under such terrible conditions. . . And they exploit the illegal status of undocumented workers to keep them quiet.”

Witness Oxfam’s “Lives on the Line” here

Read Human Rights Watch’s report on slaughterhouses here