ipl-logo

Meat Packing Industry By Jill Kaufman Summary

485 Words2 Pages

In Jill Kaufman’s article “Meat Packing Industry,” Kaufman analyses the meat packing crisis and controversy that occurred during the Roosevelt administration in the early 1900’s. In 1906 Author Upton Sinclair released a novel title The Jungle, which sought to critic exploited meat packing workers of that time. While his novel did stir up some commotion, his ultimate goal remained unmet. Americans were appalled at the ways he described the unsanitary methods and procedures of the meat packing industry. This resulted in stricter policies and inspections being put in place; however, whether or not the industry was truly unhygienic and unsanitary remained disputed. One side of the controversy is the agreement that the meat industry was indeed unsanitary and a risk to an individual’s health. While Sinclair’s novel only gave a glimpse of the issue, it brought the problem to light with many critics speaking and commenting on the unethical methods used in slaughter houses. Kauffman explains how the issues may be “because… inspections program [were] underfunded, there [most likely was] not …show more content…

Some workers came out publicly and spoke addressing that the meat packing houses were sanitary and there need be no fear that the industry was corrupt. Kauffman explains one argument many used to validate their stand was that “there was already a system in place... If conditions were as bad as Sinclair claimed… Chicago packing houses would have reported them.” Kauffman also comments on how account may vary based on the workers that were observed, explaining “any unsanitary conditions… were isolated cases… even though packers might maintain the highest sanitary standards, employers could not control the actions of every single worker.” Being that there was already a system in place, many disputed the legitimacy of Sinclair’s accounts, therefore standing and defending the meat packing

Show More
Related

Pros And Cons Of Sinc Since Upton Sinclair

1585 Words | 7 Pages

In the novel were references to rats and workers falling into tubs of meats, which inspired disgust and helped to bring the Meat Inspection of 1906 to life. Since then the public has come to assume that meat is inspected according to government standards to protect consumers, but much evidence indicates that throughout the time bribery of government meat inspectors and deception has resulted in the imposing of much unhealthy meat on the American public. In the end of the 20th century, reports of unclean conditions in meatpacking plants, marketing of unsafe mat, and paid-off inspectors were still imminent, and millions of Americans were suffering from food poisoning as a result of such

Read More

Summary Of Stories That Changed America By Carl Jensen

1184 Words | 5 Pages

Sinclair worked undercover in a meatpacking plant to gather information firsthand, before he began writing the book. Its influence on the labor practices and regulations governing the food industry cannot be understated. It tackles subjects as varied as the poor living conditions of the immigrants, exploitation of cheap labor by industrialists, and the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking plants and stockyards of Chicago. The descriptions of the disgusting processes that were conducted in the meatpacking plants made for shocking reading and turned the book into a bestseller. The President Teddy Roosevelt ordered an investigation into the lack of sanitation in meatpacking plants and caused the creation of legislation governing the food industry in the form of the Food and Drugs Act of 1906.

Read More

Modern United States: 1897-1920

1395 Words | 6 Pages

Upton Sinclair wrote a book called “The Jungle”. This book exposed the way meat was being packaged. As a

Read More

Compare And Contrast The Progressive Reform Efforts Of The Gilded Age

566 Words | 3 Pages

At the time, the conditions of the meat packing industry included toxic chemicals in all the meats, how they were kept, and how they were packed. But, progressives such as Teddy Roosevelt made efforts to help it. One instance was when he pushed Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act, which would significantly improve the industry. Document 1 explains how unsanitary and

Read More

Is Theodore Roosevelt Considered A Growing Economy During The Gilded Age

550 Words | 3 Pages

“- And while we are on the topic of horrible and unethical practices of the rich man taking advantage of the poor, lets discuss the conditions of the working man in the meat industry.” He continued to discuss the gruesome, shocking, and awful treatments that the men had to deal with on a daily, reading an excerpt from his article, “Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by

Read More

The Synthetic Flaws In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

1683 Words | 7 Pages

While the Socialists were pleased with the propaganda aspect, the wider audience was more concerned with the suggestion of what might be going into their meat. Eric Closer, in his foreword to The Jungle, comments on this. American readers responded in a way that Sinclair had not expected. They were outraged by his account of unsanitary conditions in the nation’s slaughterhouses. Sausage made from rancid meat laced with chemicals…

Read More

Pros And Cons Of 1906 Meatpacking

604 Words | 3 Pages

Response 2 In the 1906 meatpacking controversy the reflection of Americans as consumers drove reform in a very large way. During the late 1800s and early 1900s Americans were becoming more informed consumers, and started to take an interest in the quality of the products they were getting. Meat at the time, like it is today was bought regularly by nearly every consumer.

Read More

Progressive Era Dbq

786 Words | 4 Pages

The book, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection describes how Upton Sinclair stated how he had hoped to draw his readers’ attention to “the conditions under which toilers get their bread,” and how there are, “corrupt federal meat inspectors, unsanitary slaughter houses, tubercular cattle, and the packers’ unscrupulous business practices”(Document 4). The authors, James Davidson and Mark Lytle are expressing how meat factory workers are making terrible, unsanitary food. They’re pointing out that not even the meat inspectors care for the condition the meat is in. In other words, just as long as they’re making a profit, the inspectors could care less about the meat’s quality. However, consumer products soon took a turn for the better when the Meat Inspection Act was finally passed.

Read More

Meatpacking Research Paper

289 Words | 2 Pages

The Meatpacking District became a very dangerous area once the automobile was invented because it interfered with the elevated freight trains. Because the trains carried merchandises essential to the lives of most New Yorkers, freight trains were given the right of way to stop wherever they please just to make a delivery. Thus, a ten-car train would be blocking traffic just to deliver the goods. It most likely took longer than 30 minutes to unload the train of the goods to whichever business it delivered to, so the traffic gets overbearingly crowded. Besides the terrible congestion, regular New Yorkers would be in this area because most markets would be located there, so that they could get fresh produce from the local slaughterhouses.

Read More

Meatpacking Workers In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

1060 Words | 5 Pages

Thus, Sinclair’s purpose of writing The Jungle failed to bring readers to advocate for the rights of workers trapped in the low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours of meatpacking factories, but rather, succeeded in opening the country’s eyes to the meatpacking practices that went on behind closed doors and the establishment administrations to protect the public from these unscrupulous

Read More

Rapid Industrialization And Urbanization In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

1073 Words | 5 Pages

c. Horrible working conditions were one of the largest issues that Upton Sinclair wrote about in The Jungle. Upton Sinclair spoke of people losing limbs and other tragic accidents that occurred in the meat packing industry. The most tragic accidents that Upton Sinclair described involved not only the workers but also the customers that would be receiving the tainted goods due to workers falling into rendering tanks and the goods being processed for shipment. During this time of rapid growth, work hygiene wasn’t of significant importance.

Read More

Progressive Era Dbq

1349 Words | 6 Pages

Working condition of the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s was described in the book The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair. The text revealed the real daily life of the works which was so terrible that Roosevelt sent agents to check whether it was a true depiction. The Neill-Reynolds report came later, confirming what the book said was all true, and the workers were “ in utter ignorance of cleanliness or danger to health” (Doc. B). Roosevelt responded to this by creating the Meat Inspection Act of 1906, which required federal inspection of meat.

Read More

1900's Meat Packing Industry

665 Words | 3 Pages

Although it may seem that the meat packing industry is still in turmoil because of their unwillingness to make known what foods have Genetically Modified organisms present, the meat packing industry was much worse during the 1900’s because of the unsafe working conditions, and uncleanliness of the food. Body 1: The meat packing industry’s working conditions were much worse in the 1900’s than they are today. In the novel The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, working conditions were horrible for immigrants who were employed in these factories. People in these factories were worked very hard and used up till they could not work anymore. In the novel Jurgis broke his ankle because of the unsafe

Read More

Changes During The Progressive Era

1167 Words | 5 Pages

The book the jungle written by Upton Sinclair 1906 documents the meat processing industry. A quote from the book reads "there was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage… The rats, [poisoned] bread and meat would go into the hoppers together" This quotation shows that there is radical change because it showed what the food industry was like before the reforms occurred and were put into place. It alerted quite a few people of the many unsanitary conditions and actions that placed consumers at risk of disease. Later that year, in 1906 the meat inspection act was passed by Congress.

Read More

Essay On The Impact Of Mass Media On Society

887 Words | 4 Pages

The main issue was the the unhealthy and cruel working environment in the Chicago meat-packing industry and the unsanitary conditions under which food was produced. In the early 1900’s enforcing common things like hand washing, cleaning tools, using first aid to cover wounds and requiring the use of hairnets were unheard of. Therefore the meat was often contaminated with dirt, sweat, human hair and even human blood. The machinery being used to procces the meat was also an issue. There were many reports of workers falling into rendering tanks and being

Read More

More about Meat Packing Industry By Jill Kaufman Summary

Related Topics

Open Document