This document summarizes labor issues and concerns in the industrial food system. It discusses how immigration status leaves many food system workers, especially unauthorized immigrants, vulnerable to low wages, dangerous working conditions, lack of benefits and abuse. Agricultural work and slaughterhouse jobs are physically demanding and hazardous. Historically, programs like the Bracero Program and current reliance on immigrant labor have enabled exploitation of vulnerable workers. Organizing efforts through groups like the Coalition of Immokalee Workers have helped improve some conditions, but significant risks and hardships remain for many in the food labor force.
Nutrition, Diet, and Dietary Guidelines S21MaryPotorti1
The document discusses the revolving door between government regulatory agencies and food industry lobbyists and how this creates conflicts of interest. It provides examples of former food industry lobbyists obtaining waivers to work at the USDA where they can influence policies around food assistance programs and agriculture in ways that benefit their former corporate employers. This revolving relationship undermines the intended impartiality of government dietary guidelines and food policies.
The document discusses how the rise of obesity in the US is linked to changes in dietary recommendations and food industry practices over several decades. It notes that:
- The 1977 McGovern report originally warned against saturated fat and sugar but was revised under food industry pressure.
- In the 1980s, the food industry marketed "low fat" foods high in added sugar, fueling demand for sweet foods and contributing to weight gain.
- Choice architecture and defaults influence what people choose, benefiting some interests over public health. Nudges like placement can guide choices without restricting them.
The document discusses gender, body image, and eating disorders. It defines key terms like body image, idealized body type, and body image distortion. It then describes the major eating disorders - anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and others. It discusses the causes of eating disorders like trauma, stress, perfectionism, and sociocultural factors. Finally, it outlines treatments which typically require a team approach including medical, nutritional, and therapeutic components.
The document discusses several common defenses that meat eaters use to justify eating animals, such as arguing it is part of human nature or tradition. It also summarizes Peter Singer's argument that we should give equal consideration to the interests of all living things, and not favor humans over other animals simply because of species. Michael Pollan argues that while eating animals can be done ethically through hunting or small-scale farming, the current industrial system of animal agriculture causes unnecessary suffering and should be reformed through increased transparency and a shift away from treating animals as machines. Overall, the document examines debates around the ethics of eating meat and argues for improving the treatment of farm animals.
Bill Faloon's 2023 RAADfest Presentation Slidesmaximuspeto
Bill Faloon presented at RAADfest 2023. Topics he emphasized included the delay in translating research findings into routine medical practice, delays and restrictions by the FDA, and advancements in age-reversal since RAADfest 2022.
The document summarizes labor issues in the U.S. industrial food system. It discusses how immigrant and undocumented workers face low wages, dangerous working conditions, lack of benefits and protections from abuse in jobs like agriculture, meatpacking, and food service. Agricultural work pays poverty-level wages and exposes workers to health risks from pesticides and machinery. The Bracero program exploited Mexican immigrant farm laborers. Recent programs like Fair Food have improved wages and conditions but many workers still lack legal protections and face retaliation for reporting abuses. Meatpacking remains dangerous due to speed pressures and exposure to biological hazards.
The document discusses hunger and food insecurity in the United States. It provides definitions of hunger and food insecurity and explores their causes and scope. While the US produces enough food for everyone, millions face hunger due to poverty, lack of access to nutritious foods, and insufficient social programs. The pandemic has greatly increased food insecurity, especially among communities of color. Solutions proposed include raising wages, expanding and increasing SNAP benefits, addressing systemic racism, and taking a holistic approach across policy areas.
The document discusses several common defenses that meat eaters use to justify eating animals, such as arguing it is natural or part of their culture. It then summarizes Peter Singer's argument that we should give equal consideration to the interests of all living things, and not discriminate based on species. The document also discusses Michael Pollan's analysis of the issues with industrial animal agriculture, such as the inhumane conditions and treatment of animals. Pollan argues for reforming these practices by increasing transparency around farm conditions.
Nutrition, Diet, and Dietary Guidelines S21MaryPotorti1
The document discusses the revolving door between government regulatory agencies and food industry lobbyists and how this creates conflicts of interest. It provides examples of former food industry lobbyists obtaining waivers to work at the USDA where they can influence policies around food assistance programs and agriculture in ways that benefit their former corporate employers. This revolving relationship undermines the intended impartiality of government dietary guidelines and food policies.
The document discusses how the rise of obesity in the US is linked to changes in dietary recommendations and food industry practices over several decades. It notes that:
- The 1977 McGovern report originally warned against saturated fat and sugar but was revised under food industry pressure.
- In the 1980s, the food industry marketed "low fat" foods high in added sugar, fueling demand for sweet foods and contributing to weight gain.
- Choice architecture and defaults influence what people choose, benefiting some interests over public health. Nudges like placement can guide choices without restricting them.
The document discusses gender, body image, and eating disorders. It defines key terms like body image, idealized body type, and body image distortion. It then describes the major eating disorders - anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and others. It discusses the causes of eating disorders like trauma, stress, perfectionism, and sociocultural factors. Finally, it outlines treatments which typically require a team approach including medical, nutritional, and therapeutic components.
The document discusses several common defenses that meat eaters use to justify eating animals, such as arguing it is part of human nature or tradition. It also summarizes Peter Singer's argument that we should give equal consideration to the interests of all living things, and not favor humans over other animals simply because of species. Michael Pollan argues that while eating animals can be done ethically through hunting or small-scale farming, the current industrial system of animal agriculture causes unnecessary suffering and should be reformed through increased transparency and a shift away from treating animals as machines. Overall, the document examines debates around the ethics of eating meat and argues for improving the treatment of farm animals.
Bill Faloon's 2023 RAADfest Presentation Slidesmaximuspeto
Bill Faloon presented at RAADfest 2023. Topics he emphasized included the delay in translating research findings into routine medical practice, delays and restrictions by the FDA, and advancements in age-reversal since RAADfest 2022.
The document summarizes labor issues in the U.S. industrial food system. It discusses how immigrant and undocumented workers face low wages, dangerous working conditions, lack of benefits and protections from abuse in jobs like agriculture, meatpacking, and food service. Agricultural work pays poverty-level wages and exposes workers to health risks from pesticides and machinery. The Bracero program exploited Mexican immigrant farm laborers. Recent programs like Fair Food have improved wages and conditions but many workers still lack legal protections and face retaliation for reporting abuses. Meatpacking remains dangerous due to speed pressures and exposure to biological hazards.
The document discusses hunger and food insecurity in the United States. It provides definitions of hunger and food insecurity and explores their causes and scope. While the US produces enough food for everyone, millions face hunger due to poverty, lack of access to nutritious foods, and insufficient social programs. The pandemic has greatly increased food insecurity, especially among communities of color. Solutions proposed include raising wages, expanding and increasing SNAP benefits, addressing systemic racism, and taking a holistic approach across policy areas.
The document discusses several common defenses that meat eaters use to justify eating animals, such as arguing it is natural or part of their culture. It then summarizes Peter Singer's argument that we should give equal consideration to the interests of all living things, and not discriminate based on species. The document also discusses Michael Pollan's analysis of the issues with industrial animal agriculture, such as the inhumane conditions and treatment of animals. Pollan argues for reforming these practices by increasing transparency around farm conditions.
Childhood hunger remains a significant global problem, with over 2.6 million children dying each year due to hunger-related causes such as malnutrition and poor nutrition. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 7.6 million child deaths that occur annually. In developing countries, almost one out of every 15 children will die before their fifth birthday, highlighting the devastating impacts of childhood hunger.
Slides: Nutrition, Diet, and Dietary GuidelinesMaryPotorti1
The document discusses the revolving door between government regulatory agencies and food industry lobbyists and how this creates conflicts of interest. It provides examples of former food industry lobbyists obtaining waivers to work for the USDA under the Trump administration where they can influence policies around agriculture subsidies and food assistance programs. The revolving door allows political appointees and regulators to be influenced by their former employers in the food industry when shaping public health policies and dietary guidelines.
Food security has four main dimensions: physical availability of food, economic and physical access to food, adequate food utilization, and stability of the other three dimensions over time. There are differences in the duration of food insecurity, including chronic, transitory, and seasonal, and in the severity, ranging from acute food insecurity to famine.
Food security depends on availability, affordability, and quality/safety of food. The document analyzes threats to food security like weather events, economic and political instability, and population factors. It also discusses effects like hunger and policies by Nigerian governments to address food insecurity, including agricultural programs from the 1970s-2010s. Recommendations include collaborative planning, infrastructure, monitoring/evaluation, and credit access to promote food security.
The document discusses world hunger, its causes, effects, and historical context. It notes that poverty, conflict, natural disasters, and seasonal changes are key causes of hunger. Hundreds of millions of people in countries like India, China, and several African nations currently face hunger. Hunger has negative health effects like stunted growth and reduced lifespan. While the world currently produces enough food to feed the global population, hunger persists due to issues of poverty, distribution, waste, and conflict. Non-profits and governments work to address hunger through food aid, farming efficiency programs, and technological solutions.
The document discusses issues related to world hunger on World Hunger Day. It notes that the world population is growing while food is being wasted, some people go hungry, and farming practices harm the environment. It also states that hunger is an issue not just in third world countries, as 15.9 million children in the US lack daily access to nutritious food, affecting their development. The document suggests imagining alternative options to address these problems.
Food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
Beyond Fact Checking — Modelling Information Change in Scientific CommunicationIsabelle Augenstein
The document discusses modelling information change in scientific communication. It begins by noting how science is often communicated through journalists to the public, and how the message can change and become exaggerated or misleading along the way. It then discusses developing models to detect exaggeration by predicting the strength of causal claims, such as distinguishing between correlational and causal language. Pattern exploiting training is explored as a way to leverage large language models for this task in a semi-supervised manner. Finally, it proposes generally modelling information change by comparing original research to how it is communicated elsewhere, such as in news articles and tweets, using semantic matching techniques. Experiments are discussed on newly created datasets to benchmark performance of models on this task.
Jessica Fanzo
POLICY SEMINAR
Climate resilience, sustainable food systems, and healthy diets: Can we have it all?
OCT 31, 2017 - 12:15 PM TO 01:45 PM EDT
Extended Real-World Data: The Life Science Industry’s Number One AssetHealth Catalyst
The life science industry has historically relied on sanitized clinical trials and commoditized data sources (largely claims) to inform its drug development process—an under-substantiated approach that didn’t reflect how a new drug would affect broader patient populations. In an effort to gain more accurate insight into the patient experience and bring drugs to market more efficiently and safely, the industry is now expanding into extended real-world data (RWD).
To access the needed breadth and depth of patient-centric data, life science companies must partner with a healthcare transformation company that has three key qualities:
A broad and deep data asset.
Extensive provider partnerships.
An outcomes-improvement engine to support the next generation of drug development.
Eating disorders affect many people and are often driven by a desire to achieve physical attractiveness. Societal standards of beauty promoted by media associate attractiveness with being thin. As a result, social groups and a desire for acceptance can influence people, especially young women, to lose weight to extreme and unhealthy degrees. This obsession to be thin can lead to conditions like anorexia, which claims many lives each year.
While food production has increased globally, 870 million people still experience hunger. The top causes of world hunger are war and conflict, weather and climate change, poor agricultural practices, population growth, and poverty. These issues disrupt food supply and production. Additionally, over a billion tons of food are wasted each year, while millions lack access to adequate nutrition. Reducing food waste and empowering communities through education, infrastructure, and stable political systems could help address the complex, systemic causes of world hunger.
Food & food technology during emergencyAkashShah176
The document discusses the role of food and food technology during emergencies. It states that food technologists help develop instant and ready-to-eat foods that are suitable for consumption during emergencies, as they are easy to transport and provide necessary calories. For example, noodles were produced during World War 2 to supply daily diets to soldiers. The document also notes that processed and biotechnologically treated foods and water can help reduce health issues like infections during disasters by lowering risks of food/water-borne diseases.
In our opinion, poverty is the main reason for hunger, weather is it poverty of an individual or of a whole nation. In developing countries, governments can’t afford to support those in need for food and water and in developed countries there are some individuals who can’t afford their need due to lack of education which caused them to be unable to look for a source of income.
Natural disasters can cause poverty too. Governments should be able to provide shelter and food for those people who their houses and belongings were destroyed by natural disasters.
This document outlines an agenda for a presentation on hunger awareness. It includes sections on defining hunger, statistics on hunger globally and in the US, causes of hunger such as poverty and natural disasters, current efforts to address hunger from government programs and nonprofit organizations, ways to get involved in addressing hunger through volunteering or fundraising, an example of a class activity on the topic, and a works cited list of references. The overall thesis is that hunger is a widespread problem that deserves more public attention and action.
This study examines how University of Maastricht (UCM) students perceive the lack of social interaction between the different faculties in Maastricht. It aims to understand why there is little socialization across faculties, despite there being over 20,000 students. The researcher hypothesizes that the main reason is limited opportunities for students from different faculties to socialize. A deductive approach will be used, with a quantitative online survey of 5 randomly selected students from each of the 6 main faculties to test hypotheses. The expectations are that findings will provide new insights into social dynamics between faculties in Maastricht.
Hunger in America discusses the problem of hunger in the United States. While many people are unaware, hunger is affecting not just the homeless, but also those with low-paying jobs or who have been laid off. Forty percent of food in the U.S. goes uneaten each year, ending up in landfills. Small solutions can add up to make a big impact on hunger. The document calls for more advertising of programs providing free meals to children, as well as more funding for shelters, to help address the issue.
The women's suffrage movement fought for over 70 years for women's right to vote. The movement began at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 where the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments called for equal rights and participation for women. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, suffragists held large protests and parades demanding voting rights. Some suffragists were arrested and subjected to abuse while picketing the White House. By 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote across the United States.
The importance of gender for promoting food security and nutrition linkagesIFPRIMaSSP
The document discusses the important role of gender in promoting food security and nutrition. It notes that women are primarily responsible for childcare and food provision for the family, but have less access to agricultural inputs and advice, making them less productive farmers. As a result, women's gaps in agricultural production decrease household productivity overall. The document also explains that women's own health and nutritional status impacts the nutritional status of their children, but women may not have autonomy over timing and spacing of births. It highlights data showing that increasing women's education and empowerment can significantly reduce child malnutrition.
The Chicago City Council Committee on Health & Environmental Protection held a hearing on the impact of sugar sweetened beverage tax on Obesity. Here are the slides used by the Chicago Department of Public Health. The full testimony is posted online at www.cityofchicago.org/health
This document provides an introduction to a reading guide project comparing immigration in the early 1900s as depicted in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle to modern immigration trends. It notes similarities between challenges faced by the fictional immigrant character Jurgis and today's immigrants, such as low wages and inadequate housing making it difficult to earn a living, as well as disproportionate exposure to disease. While immigrants in The Jungle faced tuberculosis and poisoning, today COVID-19 affects meatpacking workers. The document outlines how immigration patterns have shifted over time but many challenges remain the same.
This document discusses the negative impacts of industrialized fast food production on various groups. It argues that fast food destroys farmers and rural communities, threatens food safety and security, harms the environment and economy. Alternatively, it promotes niche farming and consuming real, local food as better options. It also criticizes the consolidation and market power of big meat packers and retailers, alleging exploitation of producers and consumers.
Childhood hunger remains a significant global problem, with over 2.6 million children dying each year due to hunger-related causes such as malnutrition and poor nutrition. Poor nutrition plays a role in at least half of the 7.6 million child deaths that occur annually. In developing countries, almost one out of every 15 children will die before their fifth birthday, highlighting the devastating impacts of childhood hunger.
Slides: Nutrition, Diet, and Dietary GuidelinesMaryPotorti1
The document discusses the revolving door between government regulatory agencies and food industry lobbyists and how this creates conflicts of interest. It provides examples of former food industry lobbyists obtaining waivers to work for the USDA under the Trump administration where they can influence policies around agriculture subsidies and food assistance programs. The revolving door allows political appointees and regulators to be influenced by their former employers in the food industry when shaping public health policies and dietary guidelines.
Food security has four main dimensions: physical availability of food, economic and physical access to food, adequate food utilization, and stability of the other three dimensions over time. There are differences in the duration of food insecurity, including chronic, transitory, and seasonal, and in the severity, ranging from acute food insecurity to famine.
Food security depends on availability, affordability, and quality/safety of food. The document analyzes threats to food security like weather events, economic and political instability, and population factors. It also discusses effects like hunger and policies by Nigerian governments to address food insecurity, including agricultural programs from the 1970s-2010s. Recommendations include collaborative planning, infrastructure, monitoring/evaluation, and credit access to promote food security.
The document discusses world hunger, its causes, effects, and historical context. It notes that poverty, conflict, natural disasters, and seasonal changes are key causes of hunger. Hundreds of millions of people in countries like India, China, and several African nations currently face hunger. Hunger has negative health effects like stunted growth and reduced lifespan. While the world currently produces enough food to feed the global population, hunger persists due to issues of poverty, distribution, waste, and conflict. Non-profits and governments work to address hunger through food aid, farming efficiency programs, and technological solutions.
The document discusses issues related to world hunger on World Hunger Day. It notes that the world population is growing while food is being wasted, some people go hungry, and farming practices harm the environment. It also states that hunger is an issue not just in third world countries, as 15.9 million children in the US lack daily access to nutritious food, affecting their development. The document suggests imagining alternative options to address these problems.
Food security is a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life
Beyond Fact Checking — Modelling Information Change in Scientific CommunicationIsabelle Augenstein
The document discusses modelling information change in scientific communication. It begins by noting how science is often communicated through journalists to the public, and how the message can change and become exaggerated or misleading along the way. It then discusses developing models to detect exaggeration by predicting the strength of causal claims, such as distinguishing between correlational and causal language. Pattern exploiting training is explored as a way to leverage large language models for this task in a semi-supervised manner. Finally, it proposes generally modelling information change by comparing original research to how it is communicated elsewhere, such as in news articles and tweets, using semantic matching techniques. Experiments are discussed on newly created datasets to benchmark performance of models on this task.
Jessica Fanzo
POLICY SEMINAR
Climate resilience, sustainable food systems, and healthy diets: Can we have it all?
OCT 31, 2017 - 12:15 PM TO 01:45 PM EDT
Extended Real-World Data: The Life Science Industry’s Number One AssetHealth Catalyst
The life science industry has historically relied on sanitized clinical trials and commoditized data sources (largely claims) to inform its drug development process—an under-substantiated approach that didn’t reflect how a new drug would affect broader patient populations. In an effort to gain more accurate insight into the patient experience and bring drugs to market more efficiently and safely, the industry is now expanding into extended real-world data (RWD).
To access the needed breadth and depth of patient-centric data, life science companies must partner with a healthcare transformation company that has three key qualities:
A broad and deep data asset.
Extensive provider partnerships.
An outcomes-improvement engine to support the next generation of drug development.
Eating disorders affect many people and are often driven by a desire to achieve physical attractiveness. Societal standards of beauty promoted by media associate attractiveness with being thin. As a result, social groups and a desire for acceptance can influence people, especially young women, to lose weight to extreme and unhealthy degrees. This obsession to be thin can lead to conditions like anorexia, which claims many lives each year.
While food production has increased globally, 870 million people still experience hunger. The top causes of world hunger are war and conflict, weather and climate change, poor agricultural practices, population growth, and poverty. These issues disrupt food supply and production. Additionally, over a billion tons of food are wasted each year, while millions lack access to adequate nutrition. Reducing food waste and empowering communities through education, infrastructure, and stable political systems could help address the complex, systemic causes of world hunger.
Food & food technology during emergencyAkashShah176
The document discusses the role of food and food technology during emergencies. It states that food technologists help develop instant and ready-to-eat foods that are suitable for consumption during emergencies, as they are easy to transport and provide necessary calories. For example, noodles were produced during World War 2 to supply daily diets to soldiers. The document also notes that processed and biotechnologically treated foods and water can help reduce health issues like infections during disasters by lowering risks of food/water-borne diseases.
In our opinion, poverty is the main reason for hunger, weather is it poverty of an individual or of a whole nation. In developing countries, governments can’t afford to support those in need for food and water and in developed countries there are some individuals who can’t afford their need due to lack of education which caused them to be unable to look for a source of income.
Natural disasters can cause poverty too. Governments should be able to provide shelter and food for those people who their houses and belongings were destroyed by natural disasters.
This document outlines an agenda for a presentation on hunger awareness. It includes sections on defining hunger, statistics on hunger globally and in the US, causes of hunger such as poverty and natural disasters, current efforts to address hunger from government programs and nonprofit organizations, ways to get involved in addressing hunger through volunteering or fundraising, an example of a class activity on the topic, and a works cited list of references. The overall thesis is that hunger is a widespread problem that deserves more public attention and action.
This study examines how University of Maastricht (UCM) students perceive the lack of social interaction between the different faculties in Maastricht. It aims to understand why there is little socialization across faculties, despite there being over 20,000 students. The researcher hypothesizes that the main reason is limited opportunities for students from different faculties to socialize. A deductive approach will be used, with a quantitative online survey of 5 randomly selected students from each of the 6 main faculties to test hypotheses. The expectations are that findings will provide new insights into social dynamics between faculties in Maastricht.
Hunger in America discusses the problem of hunger in the United States. While many people are unaware, hunger is affecting not just the homeless, but also those with low-paying jobs or who have been laid off. Forty percent of food in the U.S. goes uneaten each year, ending up in landfills. Small solutions can add up to make a big impact on hunger. The document calls for more advertising of programs providing free meals to children, as well as more funding for shelters, to help address the issue.
The women's suffrage movement fought for over 70 years for women's right to vote. The movement began at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 where the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments called for equal rights and participation for women. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, suffragists held large protests and parades demanding voting rights. Some suffragists were arrested and subjected to abuse while picketing the White House. By 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, guaranteeing women the right to vote across the United States.
The importance of gender for promoting food security and nutrition linkagesIFPRIMaSSP
The document discusses the important role of gender in promoting food security and nutrition. It notes that women are primarily responsible for childcare and food provision for the family, but have less access to agricultural inputs and advice, making them less productive farmers. As a result, women's gaps in agricultural production decrease household productivity overall. The document also explains that women's own health and nutritional status impacts the nutritional status of their children, but women may not have autonomy over timing and spacing of births. It highlights data showing that increasing women's education and empowerment can significantly reduce child malnutrition.
The Chicago City Council Committee on Health & Environmental Protection held a hearing on the impact of sugar sweetened beverage tax on Obesity. Here are the slides used by the Chicago Department of Public Health. The full testimony is posted online at www.cityofchicago.org/health
This document provides an introduction to a reading guide project comparing immigration in the early 1900s as depicted in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle to modern immigration trends. It notes similarities between challenges faced by the fictional immigrant character Jurgis and today's immigrants, such as low wages and inadequate housing making it difficult to earn a living, as well as disproportionate exposure to disease. While immigrants in The Jungle faced tuberculosis and poisoning, today COVID-19 affects meatpacking workers. The document outlines how immigration patterns have shifted over time but many challenges remain the same.
This document discusses the negative impacts of industrialized fast food production on various groups. It argues that fast food destroys farmers and rural communities, threatens food safety and security, harms the environment and economy. Alternatively, it promotes niche farming and consuming real, local food as better options. It also criticizes the consolidation and market power of big meat packers and retailers, alleging exploitation of producers and consumers.
This document discusses the impact of current agricultural practices on public health. It provides an overview of the connections between agriculture policy and public health issues, and examines opportunities for public health professionals to influence policy and practices. Specific topics covered include the history of agricultural development in the US and Kansas, current farm policies and subsidies, major commodity crops, trade relationships, and the environmental and occupational health impacts of industrial agriculture.
This document discusses the negative impacts of industrialized fast food production on farmers, rural communities, food safety, and the environment. It notes that fast food production has led to consolidation of farms and destruction of rural economies. While fast food is cheaper for consumers, it provides declining returns for farmers and threatens sustainable agriculture. The document advocates for supporting small, local farms through slow food approaches and resisting the corporate control of the food system that undermines food security and independence.
This document discusses human rights issues in the US food system. It notes that over 20 million people work in low-paying, often dangerous jobs to produce America's food. Many food system workers, especially immigrants and people of color, face poverty wages, lack of health benefits, high injury rates, and discrimination. The Food Chain Workers Alliance was formed to improve wages and conditions for food workers and achieve a more just and sustainable food system. The Alliance advocates for living wages, benefits, and respect for food workers' rights.
Duke Divinity School September 2013 Conference on Food, Farming, and the Life...Ranch Foods Direct
Scripture portrays God as a gardener, farmer, and shepherd. It describes Jesus as “the bread of life” who invites people to the Lord’s table so they can learn to feed his sheep. It is hard to read the Bible and not see that God cares deeply about food and agriculture.
Join plenary speakers Ellen F. Davis, Joel Salatin, Scott Cairns, and Norman Wirzba, and 12 workshop leaders, as we explore multiple connections between food, farming, and the life of faith. Discover how a concern for food and agriculture can deepen faith and heal our lands and communities.
This event is hosted by Duke Divinity School, Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Blessed Earth, Cherokee Gives Back, The Duke Endowment, The Humane Society of the United States, and Anathoth Community Garden.
A Restorative Approach to Family Farm Agriculture and Prosperous Rural Commun...Ranch Foods Direct
This document summarizes Mike Callicrate's views on the problems facing family farm agriculture and rural communities. It outlines how large agribusiness corporations have consolidated power over the food system, squeezing out small farmers and ranchers. This has led to the decline of rural towns as farming families struggle financially. Callicrate advocates for supporting family farms and changing policies to break up corporate control of the food chain in order to create a more just and prosperous system.
What has Changed since Upton Sinclair? A contemporary view of food safetyBill Marler
This document discusses changes in the U.S. population, beef consumption, and food safety over time. It notes that the U.S. population has grown significantly since 1906 while per capita beef consumption has slightly declined. E. coli contamination in ground beef has also significantly declined since the 1990s due to actions like classifying E. coli as an adulterant and implementing HACCP plans, though some large recalls still occasionally occur. The document calls for continued improvements in food safety practices and oversight.
Unit 6 project- Contemporary Diet and NutritionCynthia Grothe
Cynthia Grothe's resource list covers several topics related to contemporary diet and nutrition:
- Food safety issues from The Jungle and Slaughterhouse which describe unsanitary meat packing practices and the influence of large farms and inspectors.
- The Bad Bug Book which lists foodborne pathogens and their effects.
- Cultural influences on food choices of the Amish, Mexican, and American diets.
- Issues with industrial farming methods in large feed lots and poultry production versus contemporary small farms.
- The role of Monsanto and GMOs in agriculture.
This document discusses the issues with the current global food system. It describes how fast food and factory farming have transformed farming practices and the food system. It also discusses the unintended consequences of this system, including food contamination issues. Additionally, it examines the role of government subsidies in influencing the types of crops grown and the affordability of different foods.
This document provides an overview and analysis of three labor organizing efforts involving Hispanic workers: the United Farm Workers and Farm Labor Organizing Committee in the 1960s-1970s, and contemporary efforts by the United Food and Commercial Workers to organize Guatemalan immigrant workers at a poultry plant in Ohio. It examines how the demographic, political, and economic context has both remained the same and evolved over time, shaping the nature and success of unionization efforts. The author analyzes key differences such as workforce permanence and immigration status that impact modern organizing compared to the unique farm labor movements of the 20th century. The goal is a historical comparison of how the American labor movement has engaged Hispanic workers across different eras.
This document discusses several issues related to corporate control and influence over the US food system. It presents perspectives that criticize the political power of large agribusinesses and their prioritization of profits over environmental and public health concerns. Several articles and experts are referenced that allege the USDA and FDA have been influenced by agribusiness interests to implement policies favoring industry bottom lines at the expense of regulatory oversight of food safety and small farmers. The document suggests most people are unaware of the extent of corporate influence and various health and environmental problems enabled or caused by the industrial agricultural system and concentrated market control.
Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle aimed to expose poor working conditions in Chicago meatpacking plants but unexpectedly led to new food safety regulations. Sinclair described unsanitary practices which were exaggerated and some likely untrue. This prompted Congressional investigations that established the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act, creating the FDA and food safety standards. While new laws benefited public health, they also advantaged large meatpackers over smaller competitors. Sinclair later opposed the regulations as overly favorable to big business.
This document discusses issues related to food justice, food sovereignty, and the challenges faced by farm workers. It argues that focusing only on food security without also addressing food production has led poor countries to import cheap subsidized food, hurting local farmers, economies, and cultures. Farm workers make significant contributions to food production but often do not earn living wages and face poor working and living conditions that impact their health, rights, and food access.
Hrsa Nursing Scholarship Essay QuestionsLisa Davis
The document provides a 5-step process for seeking writing assistance from HelpWriting.net. It begins with creating an account, then completing an order form with instructions and deadline. Writers bid on the request and the client chooses a writer. After receiving the paper, the client can request revisions if needed. HelpWriting.net promises original, high-quality work or a full refund.
This document discusses the decline of small farmers and ranchers in the United States due to consolidation in the agricultural industry. It notes that the U.S. has lost nearly half of its ranchers, over 90% of hog farmers, and over 80% of dairymen in the last 35 years as large corporations have gained control over the food system. The document advocates for supporting local farmers and ranchers through initiatives like Ranch Foods Direct to rebuild sustainable food communities.
This document discusses the decline of small farmers and ranchers in the U.S. due to the rise of industrial agriculture. It notes that the U.S. has lost nearly half of its ranchers and over 80% of dairy farmers in the last 35 years as large meatpackers and retailers have consolidated power in the food system. Ranchers now receive around 30% less of the retail beef dollar compared to 1950. The document advocates for supporting local, sustainable farming practices and more direct connections between producers and consumers as an alternative to the industrial food system.
This document discusses the tension between globalization and community in the context of economic and social well-being. It suggests that corporate controlled globalization will destroy food security, self-reliance, and reduce countries to third world status, concentrating power and wealth into the hands of a few global elites. Alternatively, a traditional family farming and community model based on proven ecological practices could support people feeding themselves and improving health while healing the earth. The choice is presented as whether to support globalization or local communities.
The document discusses several topics related to GMOs, BSE/mad cow disease, and ethics. It summarizes research showing that genes from genetically engineered crops can spread to weeds. It also discusses how the UK government misled the public about the BSE epidemic for years due to fears of public panic. Further, it notes that prion diseases exist in wild deer and elk in the US, as well as domestic elk farms, but infected animals are still used for food.
2.27.24 Malcolm X and the Black Freedom Struggle.pptxMaryPotorti1
The document provides biographical information about Malcolm X and his involvement with the Nation of Islam (NOI). It discusses how Malcolm X became the national spokesperson for the NOI and promoted black nationalism and pride. It also describes Malcolm X's growing disillusionment with the NOI and his eventual departure from the group. After leaving the NOI, Malcolm X renounced racism and advocated for pan-Africanism before being assassinated in 1965 at the age of 39.
2.22.24 Black Nationalism and the Nation of Islam.pptxMaryPotorti1
The Nation of Islam (NOI) was a Black nationalist movement founded in 1930 that sought to achieve freedom for Black Americans through Black self-sufficiency, racial pride, and political separatism. Led by Elijah Muhammad from 1934-1975, the NOI emphasized economic empowerment through Black-owned businesses, a cultural message of racial pride, and a theology that positioned Blacks as the original chosen people of God. Though advocating political separatism rather than integration, the NOI gained popularity in the 1960s by addressing the economic and social conditions facing poor urban Black communities, especially those in prisons.
2.20.24 The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.pptxMaryPotorti1
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C. It was organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin to advocate for racial equality and address economic issues facing African Americans. Over 250,000 people participated. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech calling for an end to racism. While a historic event, the march had critics like Malcolm X who felt it lost its radical edge, and Anne Moody who felt the leaders focused more on dreams than concrete plans for change.
2.15.24 The Birmingham Campaign and MLK.pptxMaryPotorti1
The Birmingham Campaign document summarizes key events of the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama between 1947-1963, including nearly 50 bombings targeting Black neighborhoods, the leadership of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and his Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Bull Connor's segregationist policies as commissioner of public safety, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail", and the violent police response to the Children's Crusade protests that turned fire hoses and police dogs on peaceful child demonstrators and drew national attention.
Irene Morgan was arrested in 1944 for refusing to follow segregated seating on a bus traveling between Virginia and Maryland. Her case, Morgan v. Virginia, resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on interstate transportation was unconstitutional. However, segregation on buses largely continued in the South. In 1947, CORE embarked on a "Journey of Reconciliation" with mixed-race riders that was a precursor to the 1961 Freedom Rides to challenge continued violations of anti-segregation rulings. The 1961 Freedom Rides involved sending mixed-race groups on buses from Washington D.C. through the Deep South states of Alabama and Mississippi to provoke arrests and force federal intervention. The rides faced attacks by mobs but persisted
2.1.24 Student Activism, Sit-ins, and the Rise of SNCC.pptxMaryPotorti1
The document summarizes the emergence of student activism and the founding of SNCC in 1960. It describes how student sit-ins starting in February 1960 in Greensboro, NC inspired widespread protests and the establishment of SNCC at a conference organized by Ella Baker. Baker mentored SNCC to take an independent path focused on community organizing rather than being led by King. SNCC published newsletters documenting resistance and violence against the movement. The founding statement emphasized a philosophy of nonviolence and pursuit of justice and equality. Baker later wrote that the students sought far more than access to segregated facilities but an end to racial discrimination and second-class citizenship through nonviolent direct action.
1.30.24 The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Crisis at Little Rock.pptxMaryPotorti1
This document provides context and background information on key events and figures related to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s-1960s, including:
- The Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr. and Jo Ann Robinson which began in 1955 after Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger.
- The legal challenge to bus segregation, Browder v. Gayle, which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of in 1956, formally requiring the desegregation of Montgomery's bus system.
- Resistance to desegregation including the "Southern Manifesto" signed by southern congressmen pledging to oppose the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision
1.25.24 The Brown Decision and the Murder of Emmett Till.pptxMaryPotorti1
The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. However, implementation was slow and met massive resistance from Southern whites opposed to integration. In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was brutally murdered in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman, highlighting the ongoing dangers of racism in the South despite legal victories for civil rights. His mother's decision to have an open casket funeral drew national attention to the brutality of his killing and racism in the South.
The Great Migration was the movement of over 6 million black Americans from the rural South to Northern and Western cities between 1916-1970. They sought to escape the oppression of Jim Crow laws and seize new economic opportunities. While the North offered higher wages, black migrants still faced racism and segregation, living in overcrowded neighborhoods with poor housing conditions. Publications like the Chicago Defender encouraged and helped black southerners make the journey North.
1.23.24 Early Visionaries--Washington, DuBois, and Garvey.pptxMaryPotorti1
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois advocated different strategies for advancing black liberation in America in the late 19th/early 20th century. Washington believed black Americans should focus on vocational skills and economic independence through accommodation to eventually gain equality. DuBois argued for direct confrontation through demanding civil rights and higher education to achieve full participation and end second-class citizenship. Their differing views reflected tensions over the best approach and had influential impacts on black communities and leaders.
1.18.24 The Nadir--Race Relations in Early 20th C America.pptxMaryPotorti1
The document provides information about race relations in the early 20th century United States, often referred to as the Nadir era. It summarizes key events like the end of Reconstruction, the establishment of Jim Crow laws, the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision legalizing "separate but equal", and the rise of violent white supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. It also describes aspects of life under Jim Crow like disenfranchisement of Black voters, sharecropping, convict leasing systems, and the prevalence of lynching. The Great Migration of Black Americans from the rural South is noted as a response to these conditions. Specific violent events like the 1919 Red Summer and 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre are
1.11.24 Movement Mythologies and the Legacies of Reconstruction .pptxMaryPotorti1
The document discusses key frameworks for understanding the civil rights movement, including defining it as the "long civil rights movement" that extended beyond the 1950s-60s period typically focused on. It notes how the "master narrative" of the movement overlooks important local struggles and grassroots organizing, as well as the diversity of approaches within the Black freedom struggle. The document also provides historical context on how racial inequality and white supremacy were enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and how the Reconstruction amendments aimed to address this, though the end of Reconstruction saw a rollback of Black civil and political rights through disenfranchisement and Jim Crow laws.
1.9.24 Intro to Course--Defining Key Terms and Asking Key Questions.pptxMaryPotorti1
This document provides an overview of a course on the Black Freedom Struggle in the U.S. It outlines the course objectives, frameworks, and key concepts that will be covered. These include examining social movements through the lenses of history, sociology, and political science; understanding the goals, strategies, and tactics of movements; and analyzing primary and secondary sources on the Black freedom struggle. The document also provides examples of defining terms like freedom, liberation, and power that will be important to the course.
3.28.23 Race, the Draft, and the Vietnam War.pptxMaryPotorti1
This document summarizes how the Vietnam War impacted race relations in the United States. It discusses how the draft system benefited white Americans over black Americans, with things like student deferments and health requirements. It also notes that black leaders and civil rights groups like SNCC increasingly opposed the war, seeing it as detrimental to the fight for racial equality at home. As the war escalated in the late 1960s, it exacerbated racial tensions and contributed to rebellions in cities across America.
3.23.23 The Chicago Freedom Movement and Urban Uprisings.pptxMaryPotorti1
The Chicago Freedom Movement aimed to combat racial injustice and segregation in Chicago through nonviolent protest and civil disobedience beginning in 1966. Led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the movement highlighted the role of discriminatory government policies in creating segregated housing and schools. Protests were met with hostility and violence from white counter-protesters. While the movement succeeded in passing fair housing laws, it revealed the difficulties of dismantling deeply entrenched systems of inequality in Northern cities. The uprisings in other cities that same summer showed that racial injustices persisted despite civil rights legislation.
3.21.23 The Origins of Black Power.pptxMaryPotorti1
The document summarizes the origins and key figures of the Black Power movement in the 1960s. It discusses the legacies of Malcolm X in developing a framework of human rights and Pan-Africanism. It describes Stokely Carmichael's work with the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama to register Black voters and establish political power. It outlines Carmichael's famous 1966 call for "Black Power" during the March Against Fear in Mississippi as a defining moment that shifted the civil rights movement's emphasis to Black empowerment and control. It also provides excerpts from Carmichael's speeches addressing issues like civil rights legislation, imperialism, opposition to integration, and the role of white allies in dismantling racism.
3.16.23 The Selma March and the Voting Rights Act.pptxMaryPotorti1
The Selma March and Voting Rights Act document summarizes the events leading up to and following the 1965 Selma marches, including Bloody Sunday and the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Sheriff Jim Clark used intimidation tactics to suppress Black voter registration in Selma. The march from Selma to Montgomery drew national attention after state troopers attacked peaceful protesters on Bloody Sunday. This event and the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson led Dr. King and SCLC to organize further marches. The Voting Rights Act was subsequently passed to protect minority voting rights in response to the Selma campaign.
Freedom Summer was a 1964 voter registration campaign in Mississippi led by civil rights groups. It attracted hundreds of northern student volunteers and aimed to increase black voter registration despite violent white opposition. The campaign was part of the broader civil rights movement and push for racial equality under the Johnson administration's Great Society agenda. A key event was the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's challenge to the all-white state delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, seeking to expose racial discrimination in Mississippi politics.
This document provides biographical information on Malcolm X and discusses his significance. It notes that Malcolm X was the national spokesperson for the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1952 until 1964 when he departed from the organization and converted to Sunni Islam. As spokesperson, he advocated for black nationalism, self-determination, and black pride. The document also summarizes key events in Malcolm X's life, including his involvement with the NOI, departure from the NOI, founding of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, and assassination in 1965 at the age of 39. It examines Malcolm X's evolving philosophies on black nationalism and revolution.
2.21.23 Black Nationalism and the Nation of Islam.pptxMaryPotorti1
The Nation of Islam (NOI) promoted black nationalism and racial separatism beginning in the 1930s. Led by Elijah Muhammad, the NOI emphasized economic self-sufficiency, cultural pride, and moral propriety as keys to black liberation. It established businesses and temples that gave the NOI great influence in urban black communities. The NOI's message of racial pride and its focus on incarcerated black men made it appealing. Through the NOI, black nationalism became an important strategy within the broader black freedom struggle.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
How to Build a Module in Odoo 17 Using the Scaffold MethodCeline George
Odoo provides an option for creating a module by using a single line command. By using this command the user can make a whole structure of a module. It is very easy for a beginner to make a module. There is no need to make each file manually. This slide will show how to create a module using the scaffold method.
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, and GDPR: Best Practices for Implementation and...PECB
Denis is a dynamic and results-driven Chief Information Officer (CIO) with a distinguished career spanning information systems analysis and technical project management. With a proven track record of spearheading the design and delivery of cutting-edge Information Management solutions, he has consistently elevated business operations, streamlined reporting functions, and maximized process efficiency.
Certified as an ISO/IEC 27001: Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) Lead Implementer, Data Protection Officer, and Cyber Risks Analyst, Denis brings a heightened focus on data security, privacy, and cyber resilience to every endeavor.
His expertise extends across a diverse spectrum of reporting, database, and web development applications, underpinned by an exceptional grasp of data storage and virtualization technologies. His proficiency in application testing, database administration, and data cleansing ensures seamless execution of complex projects.
What sets Denis apart is his comprehensive understanding of Business and Systems Analysis technologies, honed through involvement in all phases of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). From meticulous requirements gathering to precise analysis, innovative design, rigorous development, thorough testing, and successful implementation, he has consistently delivered exceptional results.
Throughout his career, he has taken on multifaceted roles, from leading technical project management teams to owning solutions that drive operational excellence. His conscientious and proactive approach is unwavering, whether he is working independently or collaboratively within a team. His ability to connect with colleagues on a personal level underscores his commitment to fostering a harmonious and productive workplace environment.
Date: May 29, 2024
Tags: Information Security, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 42001, Artificial Intelligence, GDPR
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How to Fix the Import Error in the Odoo 17Celine George
An import error occurs when a program fails to import a module or library, disrupting its execution. In languages like Python, this issue arises when the specified module cannot be found or accessed, hindering the program's functionality. Resolving import errors is crucial for maintaining smooth software operation and uninterrupted development processes.
A workshop hosted by the South African Journal of Science aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers with little or no experience in writing and publishing journal articles.
2. Labor Concerns in the Industrial Food System
• Immigration: Precarious legal status and lack of protections, esp.
for unauthorized workers.
• Low wages, esp. in agriculture and service work.
• Dangerous conditions: exposure to chemicals, dangerous
machinery, cramped factory and migrant living conditions, all
with little federal oversight.
• Irregular work schedules, resulting in irregular income.
• Lack of benefits like health insurance and life insurance.
• Abuse, including sexual harassment and sexual assault, esp. for
agricultural workers (often by supervisors) and service employees
(often by customers).
3. Food, Labor, and Immigration
• FoodPrint.org reports, “Today, immigrants produce the majority of our food,
from farm to processing plant to restaurants and grocery stores. Wages are
low, conditions are often harsh or dangerous, and immigrants not legally
allowed to work in the U.S. are often afraid to report abuses for fear of
deportation.” https://foodprint.org/issues/labor-workers-in-the-food-system/
• Officially, federal labor policies apply to all workers, regardless of
immigration status; however, undocumented workers may fear retaliation or
deportation if they demand fair pay or report abuses.
• In truth, federal law enforcement more commonly punishes undocumented
workers (e.g. with deportation) rather than hold accountable employers who
profit from the lower wages paid for unauthorized labor.
4. Agricultural Workers
• Agricultural workers are the people who plant and pick the
nation’s fruits and vegetables. (This does not include
people who own the land they farm.)
• As of 2014:
• “80 percent of U.S. farmworkers were Hispanic,” including “68
percent born in Mexico and 27 percent born in the U.S.”
• Immigrant farmworkers had been in the U.S. an average of 18
years, and more than half were authorized for employment.
• “84 percent were settled workers and 16 percent were migrants,”
meaning they moved seasonally to where the produce was ready
for picking (“following the harvest”).
Source: https://foodprint.org/issues/labor-workers-in-the-food-system/
5. Agricultural Workers (cont’d)
• Farm work is difficult and hazardous, exposing pickers to chemical inputs
(e.g. pesticides and herbicides) that may cause cancer or respiratory
problems. It can also cause physical exhaustion, heat exhaustion, or long-
term disability.
• Agricultural workers are typically paid at “piece rate,” or by the number of
bags or buckets they pick. This often ends up being less than min. wage.
By federal law, agricultural workers are not eligible for overtime pay, which
is typically a rate of time-and-a-half for hours worked beyond 40 in a week.
When there is no work to do (e.g. the crop is not ready or is destroyed by
bad weather or drought), workers do not get paid.
• The median annual income of a U.S. farmworker in 2013 was $17,000. For
comparison, the federal poverty line that year for a family of three (e.g. a
parent with two children) was $19,530. https://aspe.hhs.gov/2013-poverty-
guidelines
6. A joint agreement between the governments of the U.S. and
Mexico, the Bracero Program was launched to address U.S. labor
shortages during WWII. It brought 4.5 million temporary
workers to the U.S. from Mexico to do farm work. Unorganized
and therefore easily exploitable, braceros often worked and lived
in deplorable conditions, earning about $2 per day. U.S. labor
unions complained that the program drove down wages for
native-born Americans. The bracero program ended in 1964,
leading to a spike in undocumented immigration. U.S. agriculture
still relies heavily on immigrant farmworkers, but it now affords
few of them legal status or protection.
History of Farmworkers:
The Bracero Program
(1942-1964)
7.
8.
9. As depicted in the film Food Chains, farmworker organizations
like the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW, which is not
technically a labor union) have organized efforts to demand
better working conditions and a higher piece rate—asking for one
penny more per pound of produce picked. They won with the
establishment of the consumer-driven Fair Food Program in
2010, which requires partnering corporations to pay a few cents
more per pound of tomatoes, most of which goes directly to the
pickers. As it continues to expand into new states and segments
of the agricultural economy, the Fair Food Program also works to
improve labor conditions, targeting wage theft, abuse, and sexual
harassment and sexual violence. Partnering companies (some of
which are noted below) are certified by the Fair Food label.
Images:
https://www.fairfoodprogram.or
g/about-the-fair-food-program/
Fair Food Program
12. Slaughterhouse Workers
• Historically, most slaughterhouse (aka meatpacking) workers
have been immigrants or African Americans from poor
communities.
• Many immigrant slaughterhouse workers today are
undocumented, making them easier for large companies to
exploit.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
does not provide much oversight or supervision, and injuries
are often underreported due to fear of lost hours (and therefore
lost pay), as well as retaliation by managers. Workers are often
not compensated for their injuries (see Schlosser, “The Chain Never Stops,” 2001).
Source: Food Empowerment Project, https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slaughterhouse-
workers/#:~:text=The%20workers%20suffer%20chronic%20pains,is%20physically%20and%20mentally%20exhausting
13. Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)
Muckraking journalist and socialist Upton Sinclair
chronicled the exploitative working conditions of
immigrants in a Chicago meatpacking plant in his 1906
novel The Jungle. According to the Chicago Tribune, at
the turn of the twentieth century,“[t]he meatpacking
industry seemed to embody everything that was wrong
with American society, operating largely in secret,
wielding unchecked power, threatening the health of
workers and consumers. As Sinclair later argued, …the
beef trust was ‘the incarnation of blind and insensate
greed . . . the Great Butcher . . . the spirit of capitalism
made flesh.’”
“I Aimed for the Public’s Heart…and I Hit It In the Stomach,”
Chicago Tribune (21 May 2006).
Image source:
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1906.html
14. In one well-known passage, Sinclair described the goings-on of a meatpacking plant: “[T]he meat
would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even
when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat
was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they
made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. There were the
butt-ends of smoked meat, and the scraps of corned beef, and all the odds and ends of the waste of the
plants, that would be dumped into old barrels in the cellar and left there. Under the system of rigid
economy which the packers enforced, there were some jobs that it only paid to do once in a long time,
and among these was the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels
would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water—and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up
and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public’s breakfast.” (Chapter 14)
Boiling vats used to prepare
hogs for hair removal, circa
1890. Assembly line
techniques, or “disassembly”
line techniques, were used
very effectively in Chicago's
Union stockyards,
says Slaughterhouse author
Dominic Pacyga.
Courtesy of Dominic A.
Pacyga/University of
Chicago Pres
15. Sinclair’s exposé sparked public disgust and outrage about the unsanitary conditions of
meatpacking, which resulted in passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and
Drug Act of 1906, and, ultimately, the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). A century later, the Chicago Tribune reflected on these new laws: “The results were
far from perfect, but a new template had been created, one that declared the public interest to
be more important than the demands of private interests. Sinclair was disappointed, however,
by the impact of The Jungle. It had been written to help meatpacking workers, not to improve
the quality of meat. ‘I aimed for the public’s heart,’ Sinclair later wrote, ‘and by accident hit it
in the stomach.’”
Compare Sinclair’s description to the conditions of slaughterhouses in the 21st century. Would
he be surprised by the state of meat production and processing more than one hundred years
after his findings? To what extent is “the jungle” an apt metaphor for the conditions of a
slaughterhouse? Why might Americans (or the federal government) be less easily upset or
moved to action by descriptions, images, and even videos of industrial meat production today
than a century ago?
16. Slaughterhouse Workers (cont’d)
• Physical dangers, all made worse by the high speed of the “disassembly
line”:
• Chronic aches and pains in hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, back, etc. due to repeated
motions (“repetitive stress”).
• Close physical proximity to other workers:
• Increased risk of lacerations (much work is still done by hand with a knife).
• Increased exposure to illness (e.g. COVID-19, which killed at least 250 workers in 2020 in 41 major
outbreaks in slaughterhouses owned by three companies across 20 states).
• Exposure to biological agents of livestock (e.g. vomit, feces, viruses), including some that are
antibiotic resistant.
• Fast-moving heavy carcasses hanging overhead can cause physical injury, dismemberment, or
death.
• Long shifts, including mandatory overtime, can lead to physical and mental exhaustion,
making the work even more dangerous.
• Psychological toll of killing live animals (see Pachirat).
• Many slaughterhouse do not offer paid sick leave, even well into the pandemic.
• High turnover rate (by some estimates at 100 percent annually) means
many workers are not very experienced.
Sources: Food Empowerment Project, https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slaughterhouse-
workers/#:~:text=The%20workers%20suffer%20chronic%20pains,is%20physically%20and%20mentally%20exhausting; NPR,
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/02/01/962877199/meatpacking-companies-osha-face-investigation-over-coronavirus-in-plants
17. A scandal at a Tyson plant, reported in
December, highlights the routine
dehumanization of slaughterhouse
workers (typically poor people of
color, including many foreign-born),
by managers (typically working class,
white, and native-born). During the
early months of the pandemic,
President Trump deployed the Defense
Production Act to keep slaughterhouse
open while also shielding corporations
from legal liability for workers who got
sick with COVID-19 due to dangerous
working conditions.
18.
19. The Argument of “120 + 1”
After working undercover in a slaughterhouse, Pachirat described the process by
which consumers distance themselves from the act of killing the animals they eat,
instead shifting moral blame to workers, many of whom are members of
subordinate racial groups and have limited other opportunities for employment:
“Months after I stopped working on the kill floor, I argued with a friend over who
was more morally responsible for the killing of the animals: those who ate the
meat or the 121 workers who did the killing. She maintained, passionately and
with conviction, that the people who did the killing were more responsible
because they were the ones performing the physical actions that took the animals’
lives. Those who ate the meat, she claimed, were only indirectly responsible. I
took the opposite position, holding that those who benefited at a distance,
delegating this terrible work to others while disclaiming responsibility for it, bore
more moral responsibility, particularly in contexts like the slaughterhouse, where
those with the fewest opportunities in society performed the dirty work. My
friend’s position was the ‘120+1’ argument, an argument replicated across myriad
realms where morally dirty work is performed by a select few, out of the sight of
the many who implicitly or explicitly authorize it but manage to evade
responsibility for it by virtue of their citizenship, the taxes they pay, their race,
their sex, or the actions of their ancestors” (pg. 555).
--Timothy Pachirat, “Slaughterhouse Workers” (2013)
The ”knocker” at work.
Image credit: Jungyeon Roh
Tomato pickers labor in the fields of Taylor & Fulton Packing, which recently signed on to the Fair Food Program founded by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Lisa M. Alvarez / Associated Press https://modernfarmer.com/2016/01/fair-food/
Launched during the labor shortages of World War II, the bracero program led to 4.6 million legal border crossings of temporary workers to the United States. Complaints by labor unions and others about braceros lowering wages for Americans helped bring the program to an end in 1964. (Leonard Nadel Collection / National Museum of American History)
On arrival, the United States officials took Braceros to processing centers, searched them for, weapons, marijuana or other contraband, and sprayed them with DDT, a dangerous insecticide that is now banned. The photographer, Leonard Nadel, captioned this photograph: "Much in the same manner and feeling used in handling livestock, upon crossing over the bridge from Mexico at Hidalgo, Texas, the men are herded into groups of 100 through a makeshift booth sprayed with DDT."