Slaughterhouse History

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. While both hunter-gatherer and pastoral societies are currently existing in some remote locations, most of the industrialized world has transformed to domestication

Magnifying the issue, it is the high turnover rates that aid in keeping wages low and discouraging union organizing (Broadway & Stull, 2008). In addition, migrant workers are often attracted to this work for its hyper-flexible work hours, low skills requirements, and no need of a high school diploma or ability to speak English (Lever & Milbourne, 2015). In fact, executives of the industry typically believe that minorities, women, and particularly immigrants will be less likely to insist on their rights, will tolerate substandard working conditions, and will work harder overall (Broadway & Stull, 2008). Further, the meat-processing industry is organized to strategically exploit migrant workers and position them as outsiders with fewer rights and conceal them from the rest of society (Lever & Milbourne, 2015). Ultimately, the animal agricultural industry, to include slaughterhouses, intentionally conceals their work from consumers and voters by any means possible (Wrock, 2016). This allows for the companies to maximize profits by increased productivity through unsatisfactory working

To maximize profits, these industries have increased the speed workers are required to stun, kill, and dismember the animals. For example, the fastest average slaughter pace used to be 179 cattle per hour, whereas the current fastest pace is around 400 cattle per hour (Fitzgerald, 2010). In addition, studies have revealed that workers in the meat processing industry have had significantly higher mortality rates from all causes and all types of cancer, increased risk of all accident related deaths, mortality from ill-defined conditions, and death from respiratory diseases and symptoms when compared to the rest of the population (McLean, et al., 2004; Netto & Johnson, 2003). Moreover, beef-packing workers showed an increased prevalence of specific strains of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA; antibiotic resistant staph bacteria; Leibler et al., 2016). However, at some companies, injured employees have been enforced to report the reasons behind their injury to upper management which may lead to job loss (Broadway & Stull, 2008). Further, absence from work in slaughterhouse employees has been significantly related to the type of job within the industry, with slaughtering, dismembering, and deboning positions having significantly more absence than working in the stables, weighing/stamping, or company drivers (Kristensen,