Food is the sustaining life force that drives the human race forwards from day to day. As daily consumers of food products, it is automatically expected that the producers of such important products aim to produce goods that will help the consumer and attribute to their health. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. At the turn of the twentieth century, food sanitation in factories was at an all time low. Adding to this issue were the harsh conditions in which the workers were forced to work in. Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in order to improve worker conditions as well as sanitation in factories. Today, there has been little to none improvement in these fields, as exposed by the video Food Inc. Comparatively, The Jungle and Food Inc. demonstrate how America’s food sanitation and worker conditions have not changed substantially over the century separating them. …show more content…
The immigrants were “low-class and mostly foreign, hanging always on the verge of starvation, and dependent for its opportunities of life upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave-drivers” (Sinclair 113). Jurgis and his family are exposed to harsh conditions such as dangerous chemicals, extreme cold, poison, and disease. Not only did these conditions affect the workers, but also the meat. Borax was used to clean the meat of bacteria. The plants would reuse spoiled meat and turn it into sausage. Sinclair wrote The Jungle to promote better working conditions. It did influence child labor laws as well as the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 which slowly ensured better working conditions, more reasonable pay, and cleaner