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    Back to Good Food

    Good Food

    Animals and workers are packed shoulder-to-shoulder in meat processing plants

    Four major companies control the meat market in the U.S. If one plant closes, it can knock out 5% of meat production.

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    By Evan Kleiman • May 8, 2020 • 1 min read

    Four major companies control the meat market in the U.S. If one plant closes, it can knock out 5% of meat production. Profit margins for these monopolies are high, while payment to farmers and employees has been dramatically reduced over the last few decades. Investigative journalist Christopher Leonard spent years researching the industrial meat system for his book “The Meat Racket.”

    The full episode

    1 of 5
    Meat supply, slaughterhouses, French classics
    1. 0:00Animals and workers are packed shoulder-to-shoulder in meat processing plantsYou’re reading this
    2. 22:31Trump declares meat packing plants essential businesses, despite concerns from workers
    3. 32:11Working with meat processing plants is like ‘dealing with the DMV every day of your life,’ says rancher Meredith Bell
    4. 40:03‘First we get lost, then we have lunch’: Melissa Clark on childhood summers in France
    5. 48:302 LA restaurants help feed low-wage workers and first responders
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Evan Kleiman

      host 'Good Food'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Joseph Stone

      Producer, Good Food

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Laryl Garcia

      Senior Director, Good Food

      CultureFood & DrinkBooks

    The full episode

    1 of 5
    Meat supply, slaughterhouses, French classics
    1. 0:00Animals and workers are packed shoulder-to-shoulder in meat processing plantsYou’re reading this
    2. 22:31Trump declares meat packing plants essential businesses, despite concerns from workers
    3. 32:11Working with meat processing plants is like ‘dealing with the DMV every day of your life,’ says rancher Meredith Bell
    4. 40:03‘First we get lost, then we have lunch’: Melissa Clark on childhood summers in France
    5. 48:302 LA restaurants help feed low-wage workers and first responders
    Back to Good Food