Meatpacking plants process and distribute animals to buyers worldwide, but animals are not slaughtered inside the plants. Working conditions have improved since the early 1900s, and unions protect workers from unfair conditions. Kosher and halal packing plants must be separate from other facilities, and farm-killed meat is becoming more popular.
A meatpacking plant is a facility where animals are processed and distributed to buyers around the world. Packing plants in North America have been around since the early 1900s, when the refrigerated rail car made it possible to send meat to distant locations. Various forms of packaging plants can be found throughout the rest of the world.
In most cases, the animals are not slaughtered inside the packing plants. Slaughterhouses are separate facilities that exist solely for the slaughter of livestock. Once an animal has been slaughtered, it is then sent to a meat packing plant. Working conditions inside these plants can often be treacherous, although these conditions have improved since 1900. Author Upton Sinclair wrote a book in 1906 called The Jungle which detailed conditions at the packing plant in Chicago.
Once Sinclair’s book was read, the public began to press for better working conditions for packing plant employees. In the 1930s, workers in the United States were able to band together to form the United Packinghouse Workers of America. This union took control of working conditions, wages and other important details.
As the 1960s wore on, the United Packinghouse Workers of America saw its membership drop dramatically. As a result, the original Meat Packers Union was transformed into the Amalgamated Meat Grinders Union. In 1975, the amalgamated meat grinders union joined forces with the International Union of Retail Employees to form the United Food and Commercial Workers union. This union still exists in the United States and Canada and protects over 1.3 million workers across North America from unfair working conditions.
There are various types of meat packing plants, including kosher and halal. According to Jewish law, animals killed inside a kosher packing plant must be slaughtered by a knife cut to the throat. Similarly, Islamic law states that animals must be slaughtered by a cut in the throat area.
Both halal packing plants and kosher packing plants are similar, but the two cannot be interchanged according to religious laws. Both halal and kosher facilities must be separate from any other packaging facilities. While most people in the world buy meat from a large industrial packing plant, more and more people are starting to look for farm-killed meat products. The main difference between a farm killed animal and plant meat packing is that killed animals are slaughtered on the farm where they were raised. This type of meat is never sent to a processing facility.
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