Expert Deplores Conditions
in American Meat Industry,
Explains Findings in Oakland Talk

OAKLAND – Eric Schlosser, author of the best-selling "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," today blasted the meat packing industry for putting profits before nutrition and worker safety at a fundraiser for KPFA radio station and Mother Jones magazine at the First Congregational Church of Oakland

Conditions in meat packing plants are better than they were in the early 20th century when publication of The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s groundbreaking expose of the meat industry, led to major changes including the prohibition against the "Four Ds" – dead, dying, disabled or diseased animals, Schlosser said. But industry consolidation has led to conditions that are much worse than 25 years ago, he added. Today, the top four beef producers in the country control 85 percent of the market.

When agriculture behemoth ConAgra recalled nearly 19 million pounds of contaminated beef in Colorado earlier this year the federal government’s muted response indicated how much control the industry wields over food safety standards, Schlosser said. Although the tainted beef sickened dozens of people – primarily children – the USDA placed the onus for ensuring meat safety on consumers by promoting safer ways to handle meat at home. ConAgra wasn’t fined or reprimanded by the government, he said.

Schlosser believes that if the Bush Administration won’t enforce strong food safety standards, meat packers should comply with truth in labeling laws by stamping packages with the disclaimer: "This meat may contain salmonella, e-coli., fecal matter, and may kill your children."

Representatives of the meat packing industry have harshly criticized "Fast Food Nation" and have accused Schlosser of misrepresenting the conditions inside packing plants. In an April 2001 article in the New York newspaper, Newsday, Janet Riley, vice president of public affairs for the American Meat Institute, the meat packers’ and processors’ trade association, said that Schlosser, " is trying to paint a picture of 1906 in order to scare people." She added that, "There is no doubt in our minds that our food today is safer than it's ever been."

Schlosser is an investigative reporter and correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly who also writes for other publications including Mother Jones and Rolling Stone. In 2001, Mother Jones published "The Most Dangerous Job in America," his searing expose of working conditions in the nations’ meat packing plants.

Dressed casually in faded jeans and a striped shirt, Schlosser explained that working in the meat packing industry was once comparable to working in the automobile industry – the pay was good, the working conditions were safe and the unions had clout. But in the rush to increase profits, packing plants have sped production by doubling the maximum number of cattle "disassembled" per hour from 200 in the 1970s to 400 today. As a result, the injury and illness rate among the workforce now stands at 25 percent, he said. Lacerations, loss of limbs and debilitating repetitive movement injuries are commonplace.

Congress is considering legislation that would toughen meat inspection standards and put teeth into enforcement. Schlosser believes this is a perfect campaign issue for Democrats now that the country is focused on corporate responsibility.

But he also thinks that California, where the health food and fitness movements began, can lead the way to improvements in the safety of the food supply and the working conditions in the meat packing plants. "I think California is where change is going to start on all these problems," he said.