The World Peace Diet: Eating For Spiritual Health And Social Harmony

The Intelligence of Human Physiology / 83
Every day, carcasses fall on the floor and are not trimmed before the
company puts them back on the line. Floors are filthy, covered with
blood, grease, feces, pus from abscesses, and mud. A lot gets embedded
into the meat from the high-pressure carcass sprays. . . . 41
Instead of cutting away fecal contamination and tumors, workers
now use high-pressure hot water spray, which has the effect of driving
contamination particles more deeply into the flesh. In hog and poultry
slaughter operations, scald tanks are used:
In the scald tank, fecal contamination on skin and feathers gets
inhaled by live birds, and hot water opens birds’ pores, allowing
pathogens to seep in. The pounding action of the defeathering
machines creates an aerosol of feces-contaminated water which is
then beaten into the birds. Contamination also occurs when the birds
have their intestines removed by automatic eviscerating machines.
The high-speed machines commonly rip open intestines, spilling feces
into the birds’ body cavities. 42
Chill tanks are also used:
Another example of high-speed contamination occurs when the
chickens are immersed in the chill tank. “Water in these tanks has
been aptly named ‘fecal soup’ for all the filth and bacteria floating
around,” GAP [Government Accountability Project] ’s Tom Devine
told me. “By immersing clean, healthy birds in the same tank with
dirty ones, you’re practically assuring cross-contamination.” 43
Eisnitz writes about going through GAP files from 1996 and discovering
the kinds of things inspectors had stopped, but are no longer able
to stop:
Rancid meat had been smoked to cover foul odor, or marinated and
breaded to disguise slime and smell. Warm meat or sour product was
added to acceptable meat then processed. . . . Chickens and hams