Slaughterhouse

I decided to take on the book describing what conditions could be like inside of a slaughterhouse. I've had previous exposure to the infamous book, The Jungle; so I thought reading more about the topic could be interesting. I love a good steak as much as the next person, this book has not and will not make me rethink that at all. I would like to say that some of the things that were described in the book were terrible. The one thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the USDA's lack of immediate action on the Kaplan Slaughterhouse. I learned that many times, incidents of mistreatment of cattle went right under the rug so to speak. Workers that had been interviewed described many instances in which they were moved to tougher jobs for complaining about the poor conditions in the slaughterhouse. It really rubbed me the wrong way to read about people in power taking no action on a facility doing horrible things to the cattle. As I read further into the book, I came across a portion in which parents described situations in which their children were affected by places like the Kaplan factory. It was humbling to learn that places like the Kaplan factory can severely affect families across the country. One mother described an experience in which her child passed away due to an illness brought down by bad meat. This made me think; how many more children have to die before permanent action is taken in places like this? There are plenty of guidelines that slaughterhouses must abide by, but some are just simply ignored. They are being ignored to produce more meat, they are being ignored to turn more of a profit. That fact makes places like Kaplan, a joke!