The United States meat plants are suitable for production
According to CarneTec.com, a spokeswoman for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed the five most recognized US meat slaughterhouses in slaughter, cutting, processing or packaging before December 23 and after December 26 with eligible products to export are Tyson Foods, Inc. fresh produce plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, Moyer Packing Company plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania, Trim-Rite Food Plant in Carpenterville, Illinois, John Morrell and Co. plant in Sioux City , Iowa, Seaboard Foods Plant in Guymon, Oklahoma.
The meat industry is a type of food industry responsible for producing, processing and distributing meat from animals to the consumption centers. These centers are usually, in most cases, large city markets. The production is under the responsibility of the cattle ranch/hunt being the sacrifice of the cattle the first step of the chain of production of the meat industries.
At one of the US meat plants, an inspector found chicken thighs on the ground and instructed employees to pick up and "recondition with chlorinated water." Residues of animal feces were found in a container of meat for human consumption. A quarantine of dead pigs had fallen to the ground from the assembly line and were contaminated by "dirt and blood stains" until they were washed at high temperatures.
These are some of the examples of poor hygiene in pig and chicken production plants in the United States uncovered by a journalistic investigation based on data from government inspections. The British newspaper The Guardian and the Consortium of Investigative Journalists have had access to official inspection documents at 47 meat plants in the United States. Some of them affect large food companies, such as JBS, which controls Pilgrim's Pride and Swift Pork.
The statistics offer a limited view - the federal agency in charge of inspections usually makes reports of some 6,000 plants - but they light up the dark world of meat production and stoke fears about food security. JBS assures that all the violations uncovered in the investigation were "addressed immediately" and that consumers were never at risk. But experts warn that it is unlikely that federal inspections can detect all hypothetical irregularities and that it is likely that these hygiene problems may end up reaching the consumer. In this sense, the journalistic investigation cites a report by the independent British organization Sustain that warns of the high numbers of foodborne illnesses in the United States.
It estimates that annually 14.7% of the American population suffers from such an ailment while, for example, it is only 1.5% in the case of the British population. Several lobbyists also warn that the US law is not strict enough to prevent entry into the food chain of meat hypothetically affected by the salmonella virus. According to statistics obtained by journalists, between 2015 and 2017 there were an average of 150 irregularities per week in 13 large veal and chicken plants in the United States. The figures are similar in the pork industry.
