the Federal Register in 2018 , has also received blowback . More than 6,500 hog plant workers , members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union International [ UFCW ] and its Locals filed a lawsuit to stop the new system in 2019 which also increases slaughter line speeds .
Marc Perrone , then international president of the UFCW , said faster line speeds would mean more worker injuries and food that is less safe . “ We urge the USDA to hear their voices and rewrite this rule so that the people who work in pork plants and the millions they serve can all be kept safe ,” he said .
While the public may not know or care about the speed at which pigs and chickens for their meals are killed , the issue represents a growing face-off between meat producers and government about the future regulation of meat .
Teflon Egg Don And Son Go To Jail
The rap sheet of the “ Teflon Egg Don ” Austin ( Jack ) DeCoster began in 1977 when neighbors who lived near his huge , family-owned egg operation complained about litter beetles infesting their homes and sued the operation . By 1982 , eggs traced to DeCoster-owned farms had sickened hundreds with salmonella and in 1987 , hundreds more weresickened with salmonella and nine died . The state of New York banned the sale of DeCoster eggs the following year .
By 1996 , DeCoster had racked up twenty health and safety violations yet extended his egg empire to Iowa , Ohio , and Maryland , adding hogs to the mix . When an undercover investigation by the animal welfare group Mercy For Animals was conducted at the DeCoster-owned Quality Egg of New England and Maine Contract Farming in Turner , Maine in 2009 , the DeCoster rap sheet lengthened .
Conditions at Quality Egg were so appalling that the lungs of four state agriculture officials were harmed by ammonia as they removed dead and dying hens from the reeking barns along with the law enforcement officials . Fourteen months after the Quality Egg raid , DeCoster pleaded guilty to failure to provide adequate shelter and sustenance for ten hens . He received a fine of $ 25,000 and agreed to make a donation of $ 100,000 to the Maine Department of Agriculture to inspect and monitor state egg farms against future animal abuse .
Two months later , however , the DeCoster name was again in the news . DeCoster egg farms were at the center of the biggest egg recall in US history encompassing half a billion salmonella-contaminated eggs . But the wheels of justice turned slowly for the humans and animals harmed by the egg operations … and mercifully for the Teflon Egg Don . In 2007 , seven years after the massive recall , DeCoster and his son Peter , were ordered by a United States District Court judge in the Northern District of Iowa to spent three months in federal prison for selling the tainted eggs . The judge did say , however , that DeCoster could serve his sentence in New Hampshire , close to his Maine residence , and scheduled son Peter DeCoster ’ s sentence to allow him to attend his daughter ’ s wedding . It has been said that agricultural crime is seldom or lightly prosecuted and the Teflon Egg Don ’ s fate is a case in point .
Immigration raids at US slaughterhouses have not stopped since the gigantic raid at Agriprocessor in Postville , Iowa in 2008 described in the first edition of this book . The raids continue to highlight Big Meat ’ s abuse of workers and animals to produce cheap meat .
In 2018 , US Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) swooped down upon Southeastern Provision , a cattle slaughterhouse in Bean Station , Tennessee , detaining the workforce of 97 employees and leaving only three workers . Thirty-two of the detainees were released the same day , but 54 were kept in detention and ten were arrested for defying previous deportation orders .
While early news reports focused on the immigration detentions , the back story was the raid was prompted by the slaughterhouse owners ’ alleged withdrawal of millions of dollars to avoid paying $ 2.5 million in payroll taxes . The raid was conducted in partnership with the IRS reported Knox News .
According to the Associated Press , the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration found 27 violations at the Southeastern Provision operation including the “ lack of appropriate eye or face protection , inadequate safety training , hazardous chemicals inadequately labeled and toilet facilities not maintained .”
In 2019 , the following year , Koch Foods , a giant chicken processor that supplies Burger King , Kroger and Walmart ( not affiliated with the Koch brothers ) experienced immigration raids at four plants in small Mississippi towns . Five days after the raids , however , Koch Foods was already holding “ job fairs ” and finding successful replacement workers . Cynics have observed that on today ’ s industrial farms , workers are as dispensable as animals .
Abused workers are not the only reason meat is cheap . According to David Robinson Simon , author of the book Meatonomics , if Big Meat did not offload its true costs onto society , “ a two-pound package of pork ribs would run $ 32 .” What are some of the offloaded costs ? Degraded water and air , reduced property values near factory farms , higher taxes through government subsidies and higher health care costs from meat-related conditions like heart diseases and obesity write Simon .
Since the first edition of Big Food , Big Pharma , Big Lies , ongoing food and drug scandals prove that the regulatory agencies charged with protecting consumers still put industry first — that industry profits come before public health .
40 x The Trial Lawyer