Part III of reading

[Kathryn Jasper]

Please post your reflection from 8-9 here.

[amira shotwell]

After reading chapter 8,I relized why meatpacking is considered
the most dangerous job. It was very disturbing to read this part of
the book, and I found myself getting very connected to the subject.
The people who actually work at these places on the assembly lines are
being treated as if they are not humans. Just because the workers are
almost all illegal immigrants, does not mean that the deserve to be
treated like the cows that they slaughter. It is already bad enough
how they treat the cows,but an actual human being should be treated
with respect. I understand the fact that the owners of these
businesses want their business to be the most profitable, but I would
rather have a company that is very profitable, as well as fair and
just. Just like slavery, this was hard for me to believe that the
things that go on in these factories actually happen. When I read that
a typical worker gets about 10,000 cuts in one day (pg.173), I was
instantly angered. I was also upset by the fact that the workers were
encouraged not to report injuries, no matter how serious they were.(pg.
175) And when they didn't report the injuries, they were sent to
company doctors that obviously didn't know what they were doing or
just didn't care.The company doctors would deliberately lie, and make
the injury seem like less than it was, just so the worker would get
back to work faster. This happened many times with Kenny Dobbins (pg.
187 and 189) His story was very frustrating to me, because he was so
naively dedicated to Monfort and his company, and went through a lot
of things, including losing his wife(pg.187),having a heart attack(pg.
189), getting hit by a train(pg.189) and many more outrageous events.
I was shocked that 200,000 people get sick ,900 get hospitalized, and
14 people die from food poisoning every day.

[Leslie Jones]

On Feb 8, 1:32 pm, Kathryn Jasper <kathryn.jas...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Please post your reflection from 8-9 here.

I agree with Amira about the mistreatment of the meatpacking
employees. It was disturbing to find out that many of these workers
are injured or killed and these incidents go unreported. The employees
are encouraged to not go to the doctor to save the supervisor or
company from a lot of legal trouble. Their workplace is also a
disgusting place to be; to me, it's really unsanitary to work around
all of the dead cattle and blood. I found it surprising that being a
supervisor in a rural area is considered one of the best jobs around.
(page 175) The supervisors receiving all of this power often abuse
their workers, which just adds to other troubles these workers have to
go through in a slaughterhouse. Another thing that surprised me was
the fact that the supervisors were providing the employees with drugs
(methamphetamine) while they were working. (page 174) As the author
stated, a slaughterhouse is the worst place to be while you're high
with all of the dangerous equipment around. In chapter 9, I was
disturbed by the number of children dying from eating meat
contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. (page 199) Unfortunately,
antibiotics do not work against the pathogen, (page 200) so many
deaths or permanent disabilities still occur.

[Ronisha Stewart]

I totally agree with Amira and Leslie, those people should not be
treated like that just because they're illegal immigrants. With the
injury rates being three times than a typical American factory (pg.
172), you would think the company would have medical crews there to
help like when the guy lost two fingers, instead of him losing all of
that blood he could have saved some, but they don't care, they want
you to keep all your injuries to yourself. I found it both interesting
and horrible that about five thousand cattle enter slaughter houses
every day, and leave in a different form. (pg.169) And the cattle
have no idea what's about to happen to them, they just follow the
herd. That makes me feel really bad for the cattle. I thought it was
unsanitary that the workers stand in a river of blood and are drenched
in blood for eght and a half hours. (pg.171) Its also unsanitary that
the workers get cut about 10,000 times a day, all of that mixed blood
could cause infection too. No doubt about it that the sanitation
workers have the wors job ever. I don't see how they do it. I also
thought it was very interesting that in August 1997, a strain of
ground beef was contaminated with E. Coli O157:H7 and by the time they
recalled it 25 million pounds had already been eaten. (pg.194-195)
Americans can really eat beef. However, I found it interesting that
some people that are infected with E. Coli O157:H7 don't show signs or
become ill which really raised questions in my mind like how would
they know they're in fected and if they find out what is there to do
about it? Seems like to ke the world is better off being vegeterian.

[mrcbryson]

I myself felt working in a slaughterhouse is dangerous just from the
sound of it so I found it terrible that the use of methamphetamine is
not uncommon in working conditions such as those found in the
slaughterhouses (pg 174) and the female workers run the risk of being
sexually harassed (pg 176). I wondered that if they are using meth to
speed up their work, could they actually be putting it in our food by
mistake because they would come so prone to this. Could we get high
off of a burger? Another question I was wondering is if they could
become drug addicts in that case what would the factory workers do?
Just continue to let them work high because they are so scared of
getting caught hiring illegal immigrants or do they leave them
isolated and call immigration. The fact that they are treating these
women wrong by making them do this hard work with poor care and then
on top of that they are sexually harassing them makes me angry for I
just don’t understand why they do this just because these woman are
illegal immigrants does not mean that they should be treated poorly.
One thing I do not understand is why these immigrants are putting up
with this if they have no rights why don’t they just go home and live
out in the open for I will think it will be better than hiding out and
doing work for people who don’t care about you and be treated like
slaves. I would rather that these places be raided for the illegal
immigrants so they can stop hiring the illegal immigrants though
present day Americans do not want to work on farms as we have learned
in class before this would make the companies have to find workers who
would do this work so this way the companies cannot get away with
these harsh conditions they try to make their workers work in for
these people will have rights and can step up and go and tell people.
If I was a resident close to these slaughterhouses and smelled smells
of blood and burning hair, greasy smells, and a rotten egg odor, I
would move or at least try to investigate what’s going on behind these
closed doors. The thing that angers me the most is that little is
being done about these things. In addition to this I was disturbed
about the facts of E. Coli because I have always heard about E. Coli,
and it has scared me but the fact that I have learned that it is
getting to be even worse is even scarier because it seems as if we
have to live our life in fear of eating something that could possibly
be the end of our life because of the failure of these businesses at
getting their food the right way instead of pumping in these harmful
ingredients in animals instead of letting them eat grass making them
more prone to this infectious disease and having their meat processed
at these unsanitary meat processing places with poor hygiene (pg 203)
that is affecting everyone across the world to get a better
profit.

On Feb 8, 1:32 pm, Kathryn Jasper <kathryn.jas...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Daniel Moore]

Reading this section really disgusted me but im still eating what i've
been eating. In the beginning it talks about how the slaughterhouse
run off of manual labor from mostly illegal immigrants, half of which
are women (p.170-176)(very surprising). Something was awkward between
these pages was that the plant managers sell and sometimes offer
"crank",an illegal drug used to get high, for free to calm the workers
and make them feel good about themselves (p.176). The managers of
these slaughters houses treat the workers like the cows they butcher
because they are afraid to stand up and fight for what is right
because they don't want to get deported or be jobless and not be able
to help their family. Though the competition to produce more and be
ahead of others, they can do this without the cruel treatment to
workers and the animals.

[Taryn Graham]

Working in the meat packing business is absolutely the most dangerous
job ever created, or at least on of them. Honestly, i found it hard to
actually read everything through when it came to reading about the
kill floor in the slaughterhouse. I find it really sad how horribly
they treat the animals. One quote from the book that stuck out to me
is " Cattle walk down a narrow chute and pause in front of him,
blocked by a gate, and then he shoots them in the head with a captive
bolt stunner."(pg.171). I also found it hard to believe that some
workers used drugs like methamphetamine to feel energized while
working in the slaughterhouse. (pg.174). I also found it disturbing
that some meatpacking managers abuse the female workers. Another thing
that i was unaware of is that everyday nearly 200,00 people are
sickened with a foodborne disease.(pg. 195).

> > Please post your reflection from 8-9 here.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[John Robert Mosby a.k.a J.R. a.k.a. DJ Lil Sprinkles b.k.a Sprinkles]

This section made me think that these fast food corporations are just
selfish and sick. I was sickened when I saw that the illegal
immigrants are basically treated like salves, if not worse. Just as
Amira said, they are getting treated like the animals they slaughter,
and the fact that these corporations have all of these injuries and
deaths that they have hidden makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.
And then it is looked highly upon to be a supervisor of one of these
factories.(p. 175) They also give their workers meth in order to calm
their nerves and to get them to work harder.(p. 176) But it's not like
the workers have a choice. If they don't comply with what the managers
want, back across the border they go. And this E. coli thing truly
frightened me. Thousands are hospitalized and hundreds die from eating
meat contaminated with E. coli. My question is, why isn't anything
being done to prevent the meat from becoming contaminated? Are you
going to let children continue to die just so you can continue to make
a profit? Selfish, selfish, selfish. Sick, sick, sick.
On Feb 8, 4:47 pm, amira shotwell <amira.shotw...@gmail.com> wrote

[Cirby Smith]

Absolutely the most horrific thing ive ever read, Ive always
anticipated the strenuous amount of work that goes into working at a
factory but this is beyond belief. (pg.175) "but the dramatic and
catastophic injuries in a slaughterhouse are greatly outnumbered by
less visible, though no less debilating ailments: torn muscles,
slipped disks, piched nerves. Hen you have theses workers using knives
along the lines of machetes, hacking at the meat of carcases never
knowing whether they will stab themselves or cut off a co-workers arm.
No wonder they have to take such precautions in their uniform: (pg.
171)"Workers on the line rail wear about eight pounds of chain mail
beneath their white coats";"Tuck your pants into the boots," he says
"we'll be walking through some blood." One of the main things that
upsets me is the sexual harrasment, while i am glad that some women
were bold and brave enough to report it, you've still got women who
are scared to report things like this in fear of getting fired.
Unfortunately, there are also many cases where these women agree with
the peer pressure and use the sexual interactions to their advantage.
Another thing that upsets me would have to be the government when it
comes to the situations involving the people woking for these
companies. You've got immigration agents cracking down on immigrant
cases and arresting these people ,who are trying to feed their
families, like they've committed a notorius crime. Yet the government
refuses to buckle down on cases when it comes to busting these food
companies when it comes to things like the ridiculously high amounts
of deaths and injuries.(food inc.)

[Khloe Jones]

On p.170 of chapter 8 I read the quote, "I'm now struck by how many
workers there are, hundreds of them, pressed close together,
constantly moving, slicing." This immediately grabbed my attention
because I know how clumsy I am with a knife and I couldn't imagine
standing close to someone and trying to cut into a giant hunk of meat.
This made it easy for me to believe how many injuries and deaths there
are in this line of work. As I read on, because of my vivid
imagination, I threw up. I couldn't imagine walking through a
slaughterhouse so I especially think of the workers as brave for going
there everyday for work. Just the description of how high the level of
blood on the ground rose would be enough to make me quit. Another
quote that I found disturbing was this one from p. 200: "Children
under the age of five, the elderly, and people with impaired immune
systems are the most likely to suffer from illnesses caused by E. coli
O157:H7." This was disturbing to me because anything that affects
children(babies) should be kept away from the public as much as
possible, but it's not. All that these companies care about, in my
opinion, is making a sale even if a few people are seriously hurt or
killed along the way. At the end of the day the most important thing
to them is that they made a profit, as long as there are not any major
recalls on their behalf, there is no reason to stop what they're doing
and think to themselves, "Is it wrong to lie or hide the truth from
our loyal customers like this?"

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[AsianMelo's]

I agree with everyboby on how dangerous the meatpacking is. Getting
injured or killed just to make the patty of meat we eat at Burger King
or McDonald. How the workers are mistreated because they are illegal
immigrants and can be simply replaced, if they ever was to turn their
backs on the company. If they wasn't getting injuries from the knives
they used, it's either with back problems, should problems, or carpal
tunnel syndrome. All these illnesses cause by the high demand of
meats by fast food restaurant and supermarkets. I also find it
disturbing that the injuries cause in a slaugherhouse is about three
times higher than the rate in a typical American factory(Pg.172) How
the supervisors bribed their workers into not reporting injuries and
in return leasing their work hours. One thing that surprised me the
most, is the supervisors providing their workers with drugs to help
speed up the meatpacking process. I wonder if any of those drugs can
ever enter the meat that we eats, and how it can effect us. Also on
how the women are mistreated sexually during their jobs and can't even
report it. The workers are working the dangerous work ever but get
paid minimum wages......

[Lorenzo Herman]

When i was 10 i damn near cut my hand off trying to cut an apple in half n this was wit a bread knife, can you imagine slipping on blood and landin on your sharp equiptment, its going to get you a one way ticket to the great beyond, thats really messed up, i can already see it< 1000 thousands way to die 475 Meat Bagged or Meat loafed or some corny title to capture you failing on to the little belt thingy that cuts the cows into halves, but besides that slaughterhouses are death trapped to the extreme when it comes to the works because uthey are basically a few seconds from death evry second idk what they are thinkin about working there, i couldnt do, idk how the cow was gon get on my plate but im not gon die just so you can die eating what i died to prepare you sorry about the profain lang. --- On Wed, 2/9/11, Khloe Jones <khloej...@gmail.com> wrote:

-- To go to our google group, go to http://groups.google.com/group/room316APHG

[Felicia Wright]

The more I read this book, the more it makes me look at what I've been
eating. First I agree 100% with everyone with the horrible conditions
of the meatpacking employees. When I was reading this, I couldnpretty
much picture it in my head, based on the movie. And it was gross to
know that the very people who package the chicken and beef I eat don't
wear gloves! It seems a bit nasty. Where they said," Meatpacking is
now the most dangerous job in the U.S." You could tell; unreported
incidents, being accidentally cut by the people next to me. Also that
the cleaning crew who cleaned the mess where being"belittled" by the
supervisors, and they dont make a lot. It's surprising that 400 cattle
are carved every hour! And the fact that the people who work for that
company falsely report the injuries so that OSHA won't suspect
anything. And Kenny Dobbins is well respected to me because of his
bravery tonsave the man and although people criticized and talked
about him, he came through it! And that's the best attitude to have:)

On Feb 9, 12:22 am, Lorenzo Herman <kingrenz...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> When i was 10 i damn near cut my hand off trying to cut an apple in half n this was wit a bread knife, can you imagine slipping on blood and landin on your sharp equiptment, its going to get you a one way ticket to the great beyond, thats really messed up, i can already see it< 1000 thousands way to die 475 Meat Bagged or Meat loafed or some corny title to capture you failing on to the little belt thingy that cuts the cows into halves, but besides that slaughterhouses are death trapped to the extreme when it comes to the works because uthey are basically a few seconds from death evry second idk what they are thinkin about working there, i couldnt do, idk how the cow was gon get on my plate but im not gon die just so you can die eating what i died to prepare you sorry about the profain lang.
>

> --- On Wed, 2/9/11, Khloe Jones <khloejones...@gmail.com> wrote:

[KORT]

@ Felicia I 100% agree with you! from all this it would make me think
twice about whats i my meat and work packaged it. It also brings the
question what if certain meat pack had HIV, aids, or any other
infectous diseases carrying i on to me; and these injuries go
unreported and pass through ll kind of inspections! Lastly, it brings
me to my ast point/idea, is te blood you see in your gound beef really
belong to the cow or mebody else???

[Trey]

While reading chapter 8,i realized how meatpacking is told to be
dangerous.To read about the animals being killed disgusted and has me
second guessing if i want to continue eating meat.The people who are
actually doing the work were treated poorly.Most of the workers were
immigrants.On page 172 it stated that the immigrants have injury rates
three times the typical American. Me personally i don't agree with the
whole slaughterhouse ideal. It is horrible that the women are in risk
of being sexual harassed(176). People are contaminated with foodborne
disease daily(195).

On Feb 8, 1:32 pm, Kathryn Jasper <kathryn.jas...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Autumn]

On Feb 8, 1:32 pm, Kathryn Jasper <kathryn.jas...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Please post your reflection from 8-9 here.

As Amira stated, meatpacking jobs were proved to be very dangerous in
chapter 8. The first slaughterhouse that was mentioned in this
chapter, not only turned cows into the unhealthy beef people commonly
consume; it also employs many illegal immigrants that causes problems
for our country. (p.169-170) I do however agree that the treatment of
these workers which are mainly young, Latino women (p.170) is
undoubtingly unfair. The women face sexuall harrassment frequently.
Also, all tasks carried on in the slaughterhouse are performed be hand
rather than by use of machinary. Often times, workers fingers are cut
off, bones are broken and cuts are produced, but nothing is ever done
about it because owners don't want to report the injuries. The best
thing a supervisor will do for an injured worker is give them an easy
task or allow them to go home to Mexico to recoperate. (p.175) Kenny
does a great g.job at explaing how employees feel as if they're
treated as animals while working. (p.186-190) In chapter 9, I learned
a great deal of information about the potentially letal foodborne
pathogen, E Coli O157:H7. (p.193) If it gets ingested, a toxin called
"verotoxin" may be released and the lining of the intestine may become
infected. (p199) There are a plethora of bad outcomes that follow the
digestion of the pathogen with the worst being death. Many recalls
have been placed out on beef to hinder people from eating infected
beef. (p.210-214) This really makes me want to think twice before
eating beef again.

[Amina Naantaanbuu-Joens]

The term slaughter house goes for both the animals and the workers.  The IBP,Con Agra,Excel, and the OSHA don't know the first thing about work ethics.  The working condition of the foul smells the poisonous gases, the sexually harassment, not to mention the suicide missions they send the workers on.  But proper work ethics is only for the legal workers, my question is what about the non illegal, surely not all the workers there are illegal Mexicans, OHHH!! but then that would make them Americans and everyone knows that American ARE TOO GOOD for getting their hands dirty.  I though I had an appreciation meat and the people who work with it when I read Upton Sinclair's book the jungle, but to me nothing has change.  The fact that people get hurt on a job and still go back of fear that the my loss their job, sound similar to the people who worked in the labor unions during the late 1970.'s and 80's  The fact that theses companies have to lie about their accidents and health records makes me wonder what else have they lied about. Who's to say I'm not eating the remaining of some unfortunate soul.  The workers can't do to much of nothing considering if they do they'll loss the job, and probably be shipped back across the boarder.  The slaughter houses are just like America during the Gilded Age, for marK Twain said that it's a ROTTEN APPLE PAINTED WITH GOLD, we should stop believing the false advertisements.

 

[Crystal B.]

The chapter begins with talking about "the most dangerous job", the
slaughter houses.the slaughterhouses were they kill innoccent cattle
and other animals for human consumptions.I have to say i wasn't that
fond of these two chapters.It made me re-think of going to eat
burgers.I personally think that it doesnt seem write to have the those
slaughterhouse workers lie to the health officals about their
injuries, just to keep their jobs.(p.175).I would never want to work
somewhere were I would be getting 'sexually assalted with animal
parts".(p.176).That's discusting.Bt anywho, he also talked about Kenny
Dobbins.He was a hero in my eyes.He respected and honored the company
he worked for,Monfort,he went through hell and back, risked his life
for this company, that delibately "USED HIM UNTIL HE WAS A TRASH
CAN"(p.190).Bt on to the next chapter, were he said "that there is ish
in our meat."(p.197), that that is the cause of food poisoning, mainly
found in hamburgers. A six year old,Lauren Beth Rudolph,died from
eating a contaminated hamburger from a famous a resturant called Jack
In the Box, a week after Christmas(p.199).Jack in the box continued to
attempt to better their food products by passing the grade A or grade
B.Grade A were slaughterhouses that produces consistently clean
meat.Grade B were plants that produced moderately well, and grade C
or D were plants that need to do better or "stick to making dog
food"(p.209).Another inncident was (p.217), when a coorporation called
the IBP made meat, but if the meat didn't meet the standard to be
served from their company, then the meat would still be shipped for
consumption but not with IBP's company label on it. The last part that
was interesting to me was on (p.221).When Charles Gerba discovered
that the American kitchen sink was dirtier than the American
toilet.!!."You'd be better off eating a carrot stick that fell in your
toilet than one that fell in your sink."-Charles Gerba

[Brayy:)]

I found this section horrible. I didn't know that meat packaging was
so dangerous. (p.172) So many people are getting injured while packing
the meats we all enjoy, and the wicked companies are covering it up,
because they are immigrants. That is so unexplainable and selfish. (p.
176) Also, not only innocent people are dying the women are being
sexually harassed as well. Most are YOUNG Latin immigrants, they are
truly brave for taking an mannish job. Also, (p.193) when meats get
infected with a toxin and can be spread causing an infection in the
intentions. This is more likely in cows that eat corn rather than
grass. The disease is called E.Coli. This can also cause quick deaths.
If you know this,then why are you meat methods still the same. You are
basically killing innocent people, who were supporting your product.
They should be stop. I believe this whole business is cruel and
horrible. Also, make me think before I eat.

[KeithMac]

In this part of the reading, the information about how these
corporations treated immigrants and how they packaged the meat was
very distasteful. The immigrants aren't being treated in a fair
manner,especialy the women. These people get no liability from the
company and are just bodies you could say. Also packaged meat has
become a problem because of all of the diseases that have spread. The
people processing the meat understand all of the problems toxins and
stuff that's on the food,but they still don't care. In this instance
you should consider that it's all about thr dollar. Humans don't seem
to care for other humans, or you could say, humans do care for humans
but at a price.I also noted that theyhave what we call "classes" for
slaughterhouses,as Crystal stated "Jack in the box continued to

attempt to better their food products by passing the grade A or grade
B.Grade A were slaughterhouses that produces consistently clean
meat.Grade B were plants that produced moderately well, and grade C
or D were plants that need to do better or "stick to making dog

food"(p.209). This makes sense but reallly I'm trying to understand
why can't all of the meat/slaughterhouses be grade A/B. I feel as
though these people really don't care about us, only our pay checks.

[Madison Harrison]

In ch. 8, it's shown how horrible and dangerous the meatpacking system
is. The slaughter houses, the kill rooms, the butcher shop, the
immoral execution of animals, whatever you'd like to call it, is
absolutely disgusting and disturbing. I actually have considered
becoming a vegetarian lately, I'm really really considering it. Not to
mention the horrible treatment of the workers, aka the immigrants. The
women having to deal with sexual harassment(176) and immigrants having
injury rates three times the typical American(172). The fact that
people allow these types of things to go on is, well should be,
thought of as morally wrong.