Upton Sinclair And The Meat-Packing Industry

  His depiction of the horrible scene later led to federal food safety laws.        How a food safety myth became a legend (2016) stated that the book, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, opened up the federal topic about the meat packing industry that also including the workers’ conditions and the way the meat preparation was handled. How a food safety myth became a legend came to this conclusion

The Jungle was released to expose meatpacking industries’ ways of treating workers and meat. With this release, changes occurred. President Roosevelt urged Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. This act required the Department of Agriculture to inspect every hog and steer whose carcass state lines. In other words, it required companies to pay to get their facilities and practices checked by an inspector to assure everything was being done correctly.

The book is undoubtedly most known for exposing the meat industry as endangering the American populace, bringing food inspection to the “forefront of American consciousness”, and leading to the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act (Lerner). This is undoubtedly noteworthy- after all, it is the first exposé on the food industry and the well-deserved reason why the novel is so frequently mentioned in history textbooks. However, the true purpose of The Jungle is to serve as a “round of ammunition in the battle for social justice” and advocate the use of “individual progress put to use for the common good”, making it an important criticism of capitalism and a part of the Progressive Era (Napierkowski & Stanley). Because it exposes injustices which America has yet to remedy, there is relevancy to the text and, therefore, a need to read it in classrooms. The reformist nature of the times is effectively captured through Sinclair’s descriptions of the meatpacking industry and its unfair treatment of workers in a dramatized way that differentiates it from other muckraker texts (Bielakowski).

Written as an indirect attack at the labor industry, the real driving force behind the popularity of the novel was that many readers could not fathom the truth behind the meat industry. Which means, rather than seeing change in labor rights, many people instead fixated on his vivid descriptions of meat packing in the text. Sinclair embodied such descriptions of rotten meat, toxic chemicals, dirt, sawdust and even rat droppings, that consumers across the nation could not believe was actually being sold in stores and butcher shops. The story initially begins with a Lithuanian couple who have moved to Chicago in search for a better life.

Analyzation of Jurgis Rudkus Indeed, characterization in literature is a crucial matter, bringing even more depth and purpose. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair discusses the corruption of the meat-packing industry, specifically focusing on a man with a Lithuanian family. The book discusses the life of Jurgis Rudkus, during which he completely evolves as a man. With characterization Sinclair brought this book to life, and began a revolution in the meat-packing industry.

He was shocked and disgusted, and responded by appointing a special investigating committee to look into the food handling processes in this industry. Coming back with reports confirming much of what Sinclair had written, Roosevelt began pressuring Congress to address the issue. Though he realized the devastating effects these reports could have on the meatpacking industry, he chose to put consumer protection first. Congress soon passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 after much pressure from Roosevelt. These new laws

Author: The author of this book is Upton Sinclair. Original Date of Publication: Upton Sinclair published this book originally in 1906, but numerous editions have been published even in the 21st century that censor some its graphic content and violence. The time period was the progressive era in the early twentieth century.

Namit Arora in his article On Eating Animals denounces Americans’ everyday obliviousness towards the treatment of animals in slaughterhouses. With an accusatory tone Arora reaches out to meat-eating Americans that aren’t aware of the cruelty present in the meat industry. Furthermore, Arora writes to expose the hypocrisy of Americans who claim to be pro-animal despite their ignorance of the malice and the mistreatment of livestock in slaughterhouses. The context of this piece is the media’s reactions to cows escaping their doom and the modern day indifference of society toward the inhumanity of slaughterhouses. With grotesque imagery

What does it mean to be humane? According to Dictionary Reference, it states that humane means, “characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, especially for the suffering or distressed,” (Dictionary Reference). In factory farms and slaughterhouses there is a severe problem taking control of America. Cruel, inhumane treatment towards animals while being raised and being murdered causes extreme suffering and health problems that can even be passed along to human consumers. All species of animals forcefully tortured to be sold to human buyers encounter similar conflicts when being imprisoned in their factories.

Many animals are abused everyday. Chickens and other farm animals are constantly being killed for food. In this article, “PETA Making a Social Noise: A Perspective on Shock Advertising,” Jonathan Matusitz and Maya Forrester focus on the fact that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) often goes too far with their advertisements. Animal rights groups such as PETA use shock advertising as a means of getting the message that abusing animals, eating animals, or using animals in entertainment is wrong (Matusitz and Forrester). Matusitz and Forrester look to expose PETA’s indecent advertisements, but the argument relies too heavily on pathos than any other rhetorical appeal.

In Sinclair’s novel, he graphically described injuries obtained in the industries, such as severed fingers which spread diseases and blood poisoning. Besides just injuries, Sinclair also provided many details on the diseased meat, dead rats in the meat, and rat poison that got into the meat processors (“Meat Inspection Act,” 2015). He also detailed how the meat packing industry was corrupt, exploitative, and oppressive to go alongside the dangers that faced both the consumers and workers (Cherny, “The Jungle and the Progressive Era). From his work, the Meat Inspection Act (MIA) was created to provide safer food for citizens, and it established sanitary standards for both slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. The MIA was designed to go hand in hand with the Pure Food and Drug Act, which was created at the same time as the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

The Muckrakers, were investigative journalist who succeeded to exposed the social ills of citizens and corruption of both corporation and politics, and they had a huge impact on the success of the Progressive movement. Without the muckrakers the progressive movement would have not achieved the well-known status they had. These crusading journalists exposed bribery and corruption at city and state level, as well as in Congress. They called attention to the exploitation of child labor, the revulsion truth of lynching, and the cruel business practices employed by capitalists. The muckraker’s journalism resulted in legislations and reforms that had long-lasting effects.

Health and Medicine From the early 1900s to now the process of food has changed significantly. Today, thankfully there is cures for food poisoning and scientist are doing research and finding more and more information about the situation. Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, to thank for the most part because without his book, people would not have known about how their food is made and where is comes from. Even in today’s society, foods are being recalled.

In one of his most controversial articles, Jeremy Rifkin sheds light on a unraveling case of animal exploitation in the food industry. It comes to no surprise that there would be an uproar of protests at slaughterhouses, farms and corporate offices, yet these large industry stay unaffected as the public has truth of what they are hiding. Groups like Animal Liberation Front, Animal Justice Project, and the Humane Society have all the same agenda; none are opposed to humans hunting for food in the wild, there problem is with animals thinking that they just live on this Earth to just be bred and slaughtered. No matter how many humans we overpopulate, we will always must always share this one and only Earth with these animals.

“To satisfy the public's ever-growing appetite for meat, slaughterhouses in the United States killed ten billion animals last year. That's 27,397,260 animals every day, 1,141,553 every hour, 19,026 every minute” (Jones). Many animals are being placed in slaughter houses each year to meet this high demand. Farm animal welfare refers to the state, living condition, and treatment, animals are but under in farms. Cruel animal welfare has spread throughout the world killing millions of animals in inhumane ways.