Kelly Myers
The US meat industry is prioritizing profit over the lives of workers and animals.
Meat is not essential. Giant meat companies want you to believe that without them, our food supply will break.
On April 26th, Tyson Foods spent over a hundred thousand dollars touting that message, resulting in President Trump signing an executive order for meat plants to stay open, and new legislation was introduced to further protect companies from lawsuits. But this is just perpetuating the belief that we need meat when we don’t. What’s more, we should not allow the meat industry to deem itself 'essential' at the expense of protecting workers and animals. In short, at the expense of lives.
While companies such as Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, and JBS are clinging to cries of “feeding the nation,” the rest of the country is finally seeing just how broken our food system is.Workers have been fighting for protections for years before the pandemic hit. Since the creation of factory farms in the 1920s, animals have suffered immensely in filthy, cruel conditions. COVID-19 is putting a bright spotlight on an industry that has worked hard to remain in the dark. It’s now up to us. Do we want to seize this moment to reform the food system for the better? Or, do we want to let it continue to exploit those most vulnerable within it?
Profit Over Workers
It’s almost impossible to keep up with the rapid development of the issue. Over the last month, more than 16,500 employees of meat processing plants have fallen ill with the novel coronavirus, resulting in at least 64 worker deaths. With almost every new outbreak, a worker has come forward to share that they lacked proper social distancing procedures, personal protective gear, and were terrified of being penalized if they missed work. Imagine coming to terms with the fact that America’s insatiable desire for animal meat was being prioritized over your life, by your own employer.
The stories from these workers could make anyone lose their appetite for meat. One Tyson worker felt pressured by her boss to come to work even after she was showing symptoms of COVID-19. Days later, she sadly died from the virus. In a Washington Post piece, a Smithfield worker put it plainly: “I’m suing them [Smithfield] for putting our lives at risk for your dinner.” Whether it’s workers or animals on the slaughter floor, these companies don’t care who is at stake for their profits.
You may have heard the term ‘depopulation’ used in some of the companies’ talking points, which said in plain language, is the process of killing and discarding animals who did not make it to their normal slaughter due to the shuttering of meat processing plants. Millions of pigs and chickens have already been killed as a result of these disruptions. Companies are permitted to use any of the horrendous methods approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association, including suffocating birds by filling barns with foam. These methods are no more cruel than traditional forms of slaughter, yet companies are using this talking point to seek sympathy from the public. You can’t say you never wanted to kill the animals when what you planned to do was exactly that.
Profit Over Animals
Animals raised for these companies are treated as commodities, unfeeling meat-machines, who are easily discarded when there is no place for them. But the opposite couldn’t be more true. Pigs and chickens are intelligent, sensitive, and social creatures who are trapped inside this fragile food system. We wouldn’t need to ‘depopulate’ chickens if they weren’t bred to grow so grotesquely large, so quickly, that they die of sickness if left on the farm any longer than usual.
It is clear that our food system is in dire need of repair. Its fragility should raise a number of red flags even for the most devout meat eater. Just as these meat companies started to feel the pressure from human and animal rights advocates, the government swooped in to save them as if the facilities that make bacon are as essential as pharmacies and healthcare facilities.
This isn’t the first time the administration has propped up this exploitative industry at the expense of public health, but at a time like this, it is one of the most harrowing. Workers should not be forced to go into a factory that does not have the proper conditions to keep them safe from a potentially deadly disease. And millions of animals shouldn’t be slaughtered and discarded because there is nowhere for them to go. These companies have the means to do the right thing. They are just choosing not to.
This is a pivotal moment for society. We are being offered a choice. We can stand in the corner of meat products, and continue to support these cruel, exploitative industries, or we can stand with workers, animals, and public health. If we make the wrong decision, we’re destined to repeat these mistakes again, and it will be the most vulnerable who suffer as a result.
