It’s a hope many share that the meat we eat will be from animals that have been reared without cruelty. Consumers can monitor meat labelled as welfare-friendly but we do not, as it stands, have any control over food made with cruelty to people.
There are health and safety laws to protect workers but there is no proper code to ensure protection from bullying, verbal abuse or other exploitation. The food industry is rife with it.
At one extreme is actual slavery, not as rare as it should be and a global problem as well as one here in the UK. Vulnerable, homeless people with mental health issues have been worked to skin and bone on remote farms.
Who knew where the tragic 39 souls found dead in a lorry in Essex were destined? If they were smuggled, were they going to work in a place where their basic rights would be null and void?
07 November 2019, The Tablet
Dark sides of the food industry
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