The Meat Racket : Social And Economic Effects Of Tyson Foods Practices

The employees are not the only ones to blame as “Frank Perdue is directly responsible for more animal suffering and deaths than perhaps any other human in history” (“Frank Perdue’s Legacy”). Since the emergence of chicken farming, Frank Perdue has been at the forefront of it all. He developed many of the cruel techniques that are now used throughout the chicken farming industry. Because of these techniques, the inhumane killing of billions of chickens are at hands of Perdue and his company. (“Frank Perdue’s Legacy”). This killing happens prematurely in the barns as well because of the workers’ ignorance to the chickens’

The film begins with an introduction scenery of acres and large amounts of crops (corn and wheat), along with cattle and other forms of animals used in the production of the meat industry. During the agricultural featured scene, Mr. Schlosser elucidated how food preferences and the way we eat is evolving at a rapid speed, while others still perceive the food industry as an agrarian corporation. The film then makes its emotional appeal towards the audience by providing images and videos of chickens in multiple repulsive situations. The chickens were thrown onto conveyor belts by primarily African American workers, which now accounts for a fine percentage of employees in the food industry. Schlosser elaborates on the unseen dilemma of animal and worker abuse in these corporations. He then exemplifies his realization of how the abuse is enacted in numerous ways, one of which is implementing restrictions as to what workers are allowed to do and say. They use these restrictions as a way of controlling their workers and providers in such industries, because the workers/providers can’t risk losing the income they receive from these multi-billionaire companies. The above said scenes justifies how Schlosser uses emotional appeals to the viewers in order to enhance the initial

Tyson Foods is a company that is one of the worlds leading poultry producers and also provides beef and pork products (Tyson Foods, 2015). Tyson is a company that holds high quality standards and wants to ensure that every product that leaves a Tyson plant has the customer in mind. Tyson has strict codes of ethics that each employee is trained by. Every person that becomes an employee of Tyson goes through a week of training on the guidelines for the ethical treatment of animals and food safety as well as ethical training to other team members. When a new team member has finished orientation training they are then trained for six weeks.When a person starts a new job Tyson wants to be sure they can handle the job and provide a good quality

Factory farming is a practice that is used to keep up and sustain the supply and demand for different types of animal meat. A poultry factory farm that will be discussed is Perdue Farms. Perdue Farms is established and operated in the United States and has a processing facility where they raise and slaughter chickens. Perdue Farms is meeting the needs of the consumers by supplying and mass producing poultry for consumption. One may view this of being a success by having a well-established, profitable business that is fulfilling their responsibilities to the consumers. While that may be true, they are not fulfilling their ethical responsibility to the animals. These animals are in close quarters where they are nested in urine and feces. There can even be instances where they will be sitting on or near deceased chickens until their cage is chosen for slaughter. Since these animals are massively produced the use of hormones and antibiotics are used to sustain life and growth. On top of the poor, dirty living conditions these animals are also giving additives that will eventually make it to the consumer. The process has an impact on those employed by the corporation and those who purchase products from them.

Kenner uses the rhetorical strategy ethos by introducing important people of the food industry to the people of America. Kenner introduces us to Joel Salatin. He runs the farm called “Polyface farms”. He compares amd explains in the movie/documentary how his farm is ran and how the animals are fed and treated compared to corporations like Smithfield and Tyson. Kenner features the “Polyface Farm” from anywhere to what the animals eats to where the animals live. Salatin acknowledges that his animals do not eat corn or any product with corn involved. Salatin guides us through the process of killing chickens and how they are handled and packaged. Kenner also compared this process with with huge corporations like Tyson and how their chickens are killed. Tyson has their chicken coops packed with so many that the chickens are unable to move around so when chicken farmers feed the Tyson chickens they all keep gaining weight since they are big that they can con carry their own weight anymore. The chicken farmers emphasize that Tyson tries to make every chicken look alike so that when that chickens are packaged there will not be a huge size discrepancy. Another man interviewed in the movie/documentary is Moe Parr. Parr was a seed cleaner for local farmers around their town. Parr addressed that Monacello (seed company) was sueing him for cleaning seeds. Monasello’s argument was that they have a contract with every farmer who buys seeds from them; that when they save their seeds that they are expected to send those seeds back to the

farms to keep their prices low, can eventually cause the market to fail. (58) The article The

The living conditions of chickens are dreadful and appalling. What came first the chicken or the egg? Chicken farming is found particularly in the Southeast margin of the United States (“Factory Farm Map”). It is explained that, “chickens and hogs on factory farms have no access to the outdoors, fresh air or natural light” (“Factory Farms Map”). This exemplifies one situation of how chickens are poorly treated in the factory farms. In addition, even before the chickens are born, they are treated horribly. More than 125,000 to one million hens can be living in the same factory together (Hobson). Along with crowded living spaces, these animals suffer being “docked,” which means they are declawed and stripped of all teeth (Hobson). This shows how bad the conditions

In the article, “Another Year of the Chicken: U.S. Beef Supply Will Fall Again in 2015” (2014) the author, Vanessa Wong, analyzes how the the price of beef and been increasing resulting in more of a demand in chicken. Wong goes on to state that the increase in beef resulted from an extreme drought in 2012 “caused feed prices to spike and, in response, farmers thinned their herds” (Wong, 2012). More of a demand in chicken has also been noticed in restaurants. The price of chicken increased five percent as opposed to the nine percent increase in beef at Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. However, by the year 2016 Tyson Foods has projected that the cattle supplies will be down to has little as one percent. In truth, the price of beef will decrease.

Cecile Steele, who ended up becoming a broiler chicken farmer due to a mistaken order. Utilizing her example, the chicken industry took off. Before long, it was figured out that by taking advantage of supplements and vitamins, growers could raise poultry completely indoors. Chicken yards and coops turned into little metal pens and cages. By the 1930’s big business was already getting its hands into the industry by way of men like John Tyson and Frank Perdue, who achieved vertical integration by combining production, processing, and distribution to build regional and national businesses. Contracted chicken growers working for these businesses under their specifications came to replace independent chicken farmers working for themselves. Becoming more and more efficient as they went on, poultry companies all but destroyed the marketability of the goods for the independent farmers, pushing them almost completely out of the picture.

The meat industry today is not what it was nearly a century ago. While improvements are thought to have been made, an ever changing society has brought upon new problems that have been piled on to the previously existing ones. While these problems are not like those found in The Jungle, they do parallel how by exposing what is going on in the meat industry; new regulations would be the answer to the noted problems. The increased demand for meat has made it a rushed mutated production instead of a means to raise livestock for consumers. Taking into consideration the demand for cheap meat that will be used for in quick and high demanded products such as frozen and fast food, this demand of meat has greatly skyrocketed. Animals whose sole

It’s problematic that we don’t question the food we eat whether it be from McDonalds or a fancy upscale restaurant. We need to be more aware of what is going on around us especially when the food we eat is causing an array of health issues for us. The unsanitary conditions found within the factory farm industry contributes to the pathogens found in the meat we eat. As the saying goes you get what you pay for. Factory farming is based upon producing large quantities of meat at a very low cost. This driving force behind the system is not worth getting food poising or something detrimental. In the chapter “Influence / Speechlessness” the habitats of the chickens are displayed “jamming deformed, drugged,

Tyson’s Resource’s consist of numerous products, both tangible and intangible. Tyson Food’s is engaged in the production and distribution of chicken, beef, pork, prepared foods and related allied products. Their tangible products include, beef products, chicken products, pork products, pepperoni, bacon sausage, beef, and pork, pizza toppings, pizza crusts, flour and corn tortilla products, appetizers prepared meals, as well as processed meats. With such domination in the industry, Tyson processes 41 million chickens, 391,000 pigs, and 135,000 head of cattle every week at its 57 chicken, 13 beef, 9 pork, and 27 prepared food production plants worldwide and has 124,000 employees throughout all locations. Tyson’s extensive list of intangible resources include the brands they are associated with. These brands include, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Ball Park Wright, Aidells, State Fair, IBP, Bonici, Bosco 's, Chairman 's Reserve, CornKing, DonJulio, HolyFarms, and Gallo Salame. Tyson is also in control of some major brands of foods, both prepared and fresh. Not to mention, their extensive list of corporate offices and food plants associated with the Tyson name. Tyson Foods, Inc. has international sales offices in China, Japan, Mexico, the Middle East, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and the European Union. Tyson takes pride in feeding the world, with chicken, beef, pork, and prepared foods products sold in more than 130 countries.

When we mention about farm, most of us have this image of a vast green pasture where farmers spend most of their time herding livestock but that idyllic picture is just a thing from the past. Since the 1930s in America, small farms started to wither away, made way to bigger and highly mechanized factory farms. It all traced back to McDonalds and the booming of fast food restaurants (Food, Inc 2008). Fast food restaurants had become successful because they could produce tasty food with cheaper cost. Their franchises eventually made them a multi-million-dollars industry. Big business required big suppliers. Small rural farms cannot meet the demand for supply and they quickly fade away. Farmers were being replaced by corporations in

People today believe that the government is supposed to eliminate any possible danger from the food they consume, but that is not the case. In the book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of The All-American Meal written by Eric Schlosser, he discusses numerous problems with food production. Some of these issues are discussed in the “Epilogue”, “What’s In Meat”, and “Most Dangerous Job” chapters where Schlosser elaborates on the government’s role and how workers are mistreated. In the article, “U.S. Meatpacking Under Fire: Human Rights Group Calls for Line Speed Reduction, ERGO Standards,” it explains how the working conditions in the meat packaging industry are hazardous and are violations of basic human rights. Although workers are affected by the government’s role in the food industry, consumers are affected as well. The consequences of the lack of governmental oversight, like food contamination and others, are discussed in the film Food Inc. “Escaping the Regulatory Net: Why Regulatory Reform Can Fail Consumers”, an academic journal written by Henry Rothstein, explains how “putting consumers first” is difficult for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to accomplish because with consumer’s interests that means regulatory reforms are most likely going to fail.

Poultry is by far the number one meat consumed in America; it is versatile, relatively inexpensive compared to other meats, and most importantly it can be found in every grocery store through out the United States. All of those factors are made possible because of factory farming. Factory farming is the reason why consumers are able to purchase low-priced poultry in their local supermarket and also the reason why chickens and other animals are being seen as profit rather than living, breathing beings. So what is exactly is factory farming? According to Ben Macintyre, a writer and columnist of The Times, a British newspaper and a former chicken farm worker, he summed up the goal of any factory farm “... to produce the maximum quantity of