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Meat For Consumption In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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From the time man invented fire, animal meat has been a main part of the human diet. Meat, a product we get from other animals, is a primary source of our daily diet. Over time, we progressed from hunting with our bare hands to using tools, and then to guns, yet in the last century, machines were created to mass produce and process consumable livestock. We don’t even touch the meat ourselves until we are preparing it as a meal. The most common livestock we eat includes poultry, cattle and pigs, according to an article in Business Insider (2014). Throughout history, there appears to be a correlation between population growth and technological advances as it relates to the acquisition of the meat for consumption. Currently, convenience and ease …show more content…

and proper care of the facilities. The FDA stemmed from the US Department of Agriculture’s creation of the Bureau of Chemistry that was tasked with devising procedural regulations for corporations. Although the world turned a blind eye to horrible stockyard conditions, writer Upton Sinclair enlightened his generation on the conditions and his opinions of them. In his book, The Jungle, he details how workers did not care if the meat was tainted by having a rat fall into the meat bins, the disgusting conditions, or mud, blood and sewage just lying on the floors (Sinclair, 1906). As a result of the disgusting conditions of the stockyards in Chicago the city council decided to redirect the flow of the Chicago river due to not wanting the polluted water from these yards to reach the Lake Michigan. As Sinclair’s words filled the air and became a topic of discussion the FDA took action and placed regulations in 1906 the Bureau passed the Federal Food and Drugs

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This eventually led to the creation of the federal department of Food and Drug Administration which lays out laws for what is safe for inclusion in the food and medicine consumed by the

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Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" is a novel that depicts the lives of Lithuanian immigrants working in the meatpacking industry in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. The jungle refers to the harsh and unforgiving environment of the meatpacking district, where workers are subjected to dangerous working conditions, unsanitary living quarters, and exploitation by powerful meatpacking companies. The book opens with Jurgis Rudkus, a strong and proud Lithuanian immigrant, arriving in Chicago with his family. They quickly find work in the meatpacking district, but soon discover that the reality of their new life is far harsher than they had imagined.

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Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle is a novel, which affected the food industry in 1900’s but also in America today. People have learned over the years the truths about the food industry, revealed through Sinclair’s detailed evidence. Sinclair meant to aim at the public’s heart but instead he shot straight at their stomachs. One would easily be convinced to never again buy or eat meat again. Fortunately, people have seen changes from 1906 and have been currently trying to repair the Food Industry.

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“The same endless vista of ugly and dirty little wooden buildings. Here and there would be a bridge crossing a filthy creek.” This was Upton Sinclair’s description of the city of Chicago in the early 20th century in his book The Jungle, and it was not flattering. The things that went on inside the city was even uglier, and it was done by one corporate, capitalism. Capitalism became a major problem in America as it bred horrible working and living conditions for the working class, and there was many reasons for why this happened (i.e. greed).

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That same day, The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was created. This act required the makers of prepared food and medicine to host government inspection as well. Overall, these acts have now been a reassurance to the public that meat and other things are in good

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Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was a novel popularized and published during the Progressive Era with the purpose of exposing the horrific working conditions of the Chicago meat industry. Sinclair exposed the unsanitary practices of the meat industry and the dehumanization of the workers. The harsh realities written in Sinclair’s novel reached the hearts of many Americans furthering the push of many progressive activist’s demands. In the end this created an everlasting lawful change with the help of President Theodore Roosevelt.

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In “ The Jungle”, the author Upton Sinclair states that “ I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach”. This means that Sinclair wanted to muckrake the Meat Packing Industry to seek attention for the workers, but instead food became a bigger concern. The characters Jurgis, Ona, and Marija with fellow family members are Lithuanian immigrants who came to PackingTown in hope for a better future, however they came to realize that the whole town is run by capitalist. Although Sinclair intentionally uses metaphors and similes to depict the characters struggle in the horrible living and working conditions in Packingtown, his purpose is undermined and overlooked by his use of realism to depict the food process.

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Revealing the harsh treatment of meatpacking workers and showing the reality of the disgusting conditions found in butchery shops to the public, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle became an enduring classic by American readers throughout the early twentieth century the prompted the later creation of the Federal Drug Administration. In the early 1900s, America was explosively transitioning from an agricultural society to a thriving manufacturing-based nation. As production demand in factories grew throughout the country, the work force needed to run those factories also expanded. A new type of demanding and dangerous work became prevalent throughout the nation, as immigrants coming into the “Land of Opportunity” found themselves desperate

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Intro: When people eat food they do not think about what is in it, or how it is made. The only thing people care about is what the food tastes like and how much they get. During the 1900’s the meat packing industry had not regulations of any kind. All that mattered to the industry was that they made as much money as possible with as little expenditure as possible. During this times people were often made sick and died either from working conditions or poor food quality.

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The Jungle is a fictional novel based on the indiscretions within the meat industry, but there are instances in which the author is giving the subtle truth. For instance, Sinclair insinuates the existence of poisoned rats being mixed into our food, filling the reader with newfound suspicions that the meat we are eating is not as it seems (Sinclair 143). The facts shown to the reader forces them to acknowledge the dangers of trusting the meat industry and pushes their bias towards a healthier lifestyle. In addition to Sinclair’s hints, Pollan displays the industry’s apathy towards the prevention of life-threatening diseases when he states that nearly 80% of the E. coli found in cows’ newly-acidic stomach can disperse if they were fed grass 5 days before slaughter (Pollan 82). This shows the reader the industry’s care for profit rather than their well-being, and it has the potential to cause the reader to have a negative bias towards the food

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Experts recommend that adults eat just over half a pound of meat per week to help reduce their risk for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and/or strokes. “We don’t eat animal products for sufficient nutrition, we eat them to have an odd form of malnutrition, and It’s killing us” (Bittman). There’s a simple way to reduce not only our calorie intake, but our carbon footprint as well: “less meat, less junk food, more plants” (Bittman). While Bittman makes some very compelling points about how much of the meat we produce and subsequently waste, he fails to take into account the affordability of meat because of it’s mass production, as well as the simple facts that most people lack the time needed to produce meals with fruits and

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A Response to the Jungle The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a novel about what Sinclair observed when he took a trip to Chicago’s “Packingtown” area in 1904. The book is best known for illustrating the filthy production of meat using unnatural substances and unfavorable parts of animals. Sinclair also described the atrocious conditions that immigrant workers lived and worked in, often resulting in bodily injury and even death.

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populace was being taken into consideration as industry changed and reforms became a common occurrence during the progressive era. In 1905, Theodore Roosevelt proposed a law on food inspection. He said "The sale of food-stuffs which have been contaminated or polluted so as to injure health or to deceive purchasers should be forbidden." If the president proposed a law, it shows that there was a radical change because Roosevelt thought the food processing industry was a substantial problem that could hurt the health of citizens. It shows that the problem was unavoidable and that something actually needed to be done.

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The History of Slaughterhouses It is beneficial to briefly review the history of meat consumption while also examining the establishment and development of the slaughterhouse. Fundamentally, the process of turning living animals into meat for consumption has been around for a long time, occurring as far back as our hunter-gatherer ancestors. A lifestyle which has been considered a symbiotic relationship built on trust and respect between humankind and nature (Ingold, 2011). Throughout the world and in various regions, pastoralism eventually succeeded most hunter-gatherer societies.

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In today’s world, there is a division among the people in the world regarding whether or not it is ethical to eat meat. After researching about eating meat and vegetarianism, I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed ethical to eat meat in today’s society. Sure, eating meat might have its drawbacks, but I have found that the benefits of eating meat far outweigh the negatives of eating it. Eating meat not only helps improve people’s health, but it also helps strengthen our economy and it has little difference in the environmental impact that involves in the farming of vegetables. Eating too much of anything usually results in a negative outcome.

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