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The Chain, November 2015
Paperback / e-Book (reprint)
Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food
Harper
November 2015
On Sale: October 20, 2015
320 pages
ISBN: 0062288768
EAN: 9780062288769
Kindle: B00HYMBNVM
Paperback / e-Book (reprint)
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Non-Fiction
A harrowing investigation of the tortuous path our food
products take—from slaughter to Spam On the production
line in American packing-houses, there is one cardinal rule:
the chain never slows. Under pressure to increase supply,
the supervisors of meat-processing plants have routinely
accelerated the pace of conveyors, leading to inhumane
conditions, increased accidents, and food of questionable,
often dangerous quality. In The Chain, acclaimed
journalist Ted Genoways uses the story of Hormel Foods and
its most famous product, Spam—a recession-era staple—to
probe the state of the meatpacking industry, including the
expansion of agribusiness and the effects of immigrant labor
on Middle America. Interviewing scores of line
workers, union leaders, hog farmers, and local politicians
and activists, Genoways reveals an industry pushed to its
breaking point. Along the way, he exposes alarming new
trends: sick or permanently disabled workers, abused
animals, water and soil pollution, and mounting conflict
between small towns and immigrant labor. The narrative
moves across the heartland—from Minnesota, to witness the
cut-and-kill operation; to Iowa, to observe breeding and
farrowing in massive hog barns; to Nebraska, to see the
tense town hall meetings and broken windows in reaction to
the arrival of Hispanic workers; and back to Minnesota,
where political refugees from Burma give the workforce the
power it needs to fight back. A searching exposé in
the tradition of Upton Sinclair, Rachel Carson, and Eric
Schlosser, The Chain is a mesmerizing story and an
urgent warning about the hidden costs of the food we eat.
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