A review by rocknrollbookshelf
Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry by Gail A. Eisnitz

4.0

I had a rude awakening very recently concerning the health hazards as well as the immorality of eating meat, and as a result, i've been seeking out information on the meat industry and animal rights. This book is more or less the top of the stack as far as I'm concerned, being a new convert to vegetarianism. It exposes the gross crimes committed against animals every day by the thousands as they're drug through the slaughterhouse, being skinned, mutilated, tortured, beaten, shocked, and scalded while still alive. Federal legislation "requires" humane slaughtering practices, but these are largely ignored as a result of USDA pressure and power over the meat plants and employees. The industry, being concerned only with the amount of production, looks the other way while innocent animals are subjected to gruesome and painful deaths so that we can put dinner on the table. The corruption doesn't just affect the animals; non-enforcement of health standards and practices in the slaughterhouses and packaging plants leaves us with meat products that are more often than not contaminated with fecal matter, bacteria, etc etc etc. Gail Eisnitz courageously investigates and uncovers these and other horrific injustices in the meat industry and presents them to us. Even if you're not particularly interested in animal rights, the governmental corruption this book demonstrates is absolutely astonishing, and the health risks being sold to us at the meat counter are of interest to ANYONE. You'll need a strong stomach to read this one, but it's absolutely worth it.