On July 17, the inspector found “green algal growth” in a puddle of standing water in a raw holding cooler. And on July 27, an inspector noted clear liquid leaking out from a square patch on the ceiling. Behind the patch, there were two other patches that were also leaking. An employee came and wiped the liquid away with a sponge, but it returned within 10 seconds. The employee wiped it again, and the liquid again returned within 10 seconds. Meanwhile, a ceiling fan mounted close by was blowing the leaking liquid onto uncovered hams in a hallway outside the room.

A picture of hell.

  • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    19 天前

    Every single major retailer with a deli section near me has switched to boar’s head within the last 2-3 years… guess they undercut everyone else on bids and got good contracts by violating health and safety laws, the American capitalist way!

    • derf82@lemmy.world
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      19 天前

      In Nov 2020, the person that ran things for years died, and control passed to other family members that immediately sued each other.

      I’m any case, seems greed likely started to drive everything, they pushed expansion over safety, and wound up killing people.

      • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world
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        18 天前

        seems greed likely started to drive everything, they pushed expansion over safety, and wound up killing people.

        Thank god this is an isolated incident in corporate America. /s

      • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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        18 天前

        In

        any case, seems greed likely started to drive everything, they pushed expansion over safety, and wound up killing people.

        Chiquita, Nestle, and Boeing have entered the chat.

        • Darkaga@lemmy.world
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          18 天前

          Boeing and Boar’s head are killing people because of incompetence and cost cutting. Chiquita and Nestle go out in the jungle and massacre people at regular intervals just because those people don’t want to be slaves and having to pay workers hurts the bottom line.

          I put them in different categories.

      • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        8 天前

        a story as old as time… one person spends their life building an empire, their spoiled brat children immediately tear it down screaming

      • Retrograde@lemmy.world
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        18 天前

        I feel you could say this about every american company that has been around for 40 plus years. Enshittification is a real bitch

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        18 天前

        I remember that! They were more a specialty brand that you’d find in more upscale grocery stores. Now they’re just boring, apparently disgusting, processed meat like every other brand.

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      18 天前

      Having managed a supermarket for about 6 years, I can tell you it’s because of the service, consistent quality and variety of choices. Their service model is similar to many of the larger bread vendors in that they sell via consignment. So you only buy what you open to sell, and they take back anything that expires or looks dodgy. Their sales reps maintain your inventory and place your orders, really saving you alot of time and reducing your risk.

    • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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      18 天前

      Im glad the German deli and regional super market go through more local organizations. Im also glad we can maintain damned near every type of livestock as well.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      18 天前

      My favorite part of that book was when it revealed that workers would go missing from time to time and later be found at the bottom of a lard rendering vat. Ha ha!

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        18 天前

        I don’t know if I can say I have a “favorite” part of the book. The whole thing was just horrifying. I think I spent the entire time reading it with my mouth wide open.

        And how little has changed…

        • Samvega
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          18 天前

          I think I spent the entire time reading it with my mouth wide open.

          As a procession of cute cartoon animals jumped in. “Eat me!!!”

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      17 天前

      After the book came out congress was shockingly fast to pass new laws. It turns out the plant profiled in the book had the contract for the congressional cafeteria. That’s how you get political change.

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    19 天前

    Y’all would be fucking horrified by the state of food manufacturing if you knew.

    I used to work at a food processing and distribution company, in the document processing department… we weren’t strictly supposed to read the audits, especially the internal ones, but we did, to make sure they were complete and compliant, which was our job. Also our job was intensely boring and we needed something to gossip about.

    The number of our distributors (first level manufacturing) who got C or D grades on their inspections… fucking gross. I reported a few of them, but the company did not care.

    Before that I worked at a chicken hatchery. The cultures I cultured -doing an audit just like those I read later in life- were sooooo gross and problematic. But I was instructed to cover it up because, and this is important context, it was all self report after the initial inspection. I was doing this at 16, and was likely significantly more thorough than any veteran employee would have been. (Absolutely not why I was chosen; they chose me due to incredibly mild nepotism, as my manager was my step-dad, and he knew science stuff was up my alley… plus I was a filler worker, being under 18.)

    I really hope things have improved, but somehow I doubt that the past 20 years has made a positive impact from my audit experience. (The document processing was less than 10 years ago, supporting my belief nothing has changed for the better.)

      • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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        18 天前

        Not where I expected that to go, but then… I never know where to expect comedians to go… I think that’s the point.

        Anyway, keeping to the subject, when I worked at the hatchery there was this guy… he was the guy who killed all the male babies, and that was his whole job… he was fucking weird, in a bad way, and we all gave him tons of space. It didn’t bother him at all to kill thousands of birds in a single day as just his normal job. That’s all.

        • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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          18 天前

          You get used to the cruelty. It may feel wrong for a short period of time, but you get used to and at some point don’t care. I currently work at a small(about 200 pigs) “piglet farm”, where they raise pigs and sell them to other farmers. Part of the morning routine involves cutting the tails and teeth’s of all new born piglets. It was quite of a shock at the beginning, but even after 1 week I realise it being jot as shocking ad in the beginning, even though I still absolutely hat it for having to do this. Luckyly I only have to work there for 3 more weeks.

          • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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            18 天前

            He honestly isn’t really my cup of tea… I love stand-up, but his stuff always just felt wrong to me, and not like politically wrong but…

            Norm-violating wrong.

            (Hehehehehehehe)

          • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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            18 天前

            My bad. I’m not a comedian. Idk where the line is between “so real it’s funny” and “so real it’s not funny”… it’s just a thing I experienced.

            So here we are.

            Sorry.

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        17 天前

        It’s the same thing except instead of delicious properly prepared lean meat in a disgusting warehouse with awful cleanliness practices, it’s crappily prepared and spiced meat in a clean warehouse that’s not trying to kill you.

      • Monstrosity@lemm.ee
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        18 天前

        That’s nice to say, but actually your meat consumption is fucking everyone up, even people who choose to live their lives the way they like and not fuck the Planet up because they lack the willpower to resist that tasty tasty carcass at literally every meal.

        EDIT: Meaters, eating just one meal a day that includes meat would make a HUGE environmental impact. Just, try it for a week, cut down to meat for one meal daily. Breakfast or lunch or dinner. It’s easy.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          18 天前

          Why do you assume everyone who eats meat has it every meal? I’ve spent years not living like that and never fully stopped eating meat

          • Monstrosity@lemm.ee
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            18 天前

            I appreciate the point you’re trying to make but if you look into it, our meat habit is far and away one of, if not the, biggest climate challenges we face. We cannot continue consuming meat at our current pace and curb global warming, it’s that simple. And while my initial post is extremely judgemental, I really just wish people would start paying attention to how much meat they eat. Is it really necessary? Really? Every meal? Considering the resources meat requires to harvest, I don’t think so, but, sure, harp on my clothes, bro/broette.

              • Samvega
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                18 天前

                That being said: if you actually want to have a discussion about this

                Why is a discussion necessary? The facts are there.

                It’s like global warming: at some point all you can do is be angry about it and keep pointing at reality.

            • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              17 天前

              if you look into it, our meat habit is far and away one of, if not the, biggest climate challenges we face.

              citation needed

              • Monstrosity@lemm.ee
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                17 天前

                I mean, sure. Try a search engine. It’s not exactly lost knowledge of the Ancients.

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  17 天前

                  my searches don’t substantiate your claim. i am not responsible for supporting your claim: you are. if you cannot, there is no reason to believe it to be true.

        • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          17 天前

          your meat consumption is fucking everyone up, even people who choose to live their lives the way they like and not fuck the Planet up

          eating meat has no impact on the planet.

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      19 天前

      It’s worth a read for more than just that.

      Our guy wrote a book about the working class and immigrants being taken advantage of, and how they need to stand up for worker’s rights and unions. And the American public focused on their food being gross.

      • beefpig@sh.itjust.works
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        18 天前

        By purchasing meat from companies like this, you absolutely are. Support your local butcher if you do consume.

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            18 天前

            By giving them your money, you are funding the operation of the plants that produce the meat. And lining the pockets of those that make the decisions to act this way. It is not meaningless.

            If you don’t give them money, it hurts their bottom line and forces either change or the shutting down of the business. You can speak volumes through making more ethical decisions about where your money goes.

            • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              18 天前

              You can speak volumes through making more ethical decisions about where your money goes.

              no matter what i buy at the grocery store, my money goes to the grocer.

              • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
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                18 天前

                If were being pedantic, if you purchase with a card your money actually goes to the bank, who transfers it to Visa, who transfers it to the grocer. The grocer restocks the item you purchased, transferring a portion of your money (less all the upstream overhead/fees) to the manufacturer of your purchased good.

                If people stop buying products with a harmful supply chain, grocers stop stocking it. They’re not just putting processed deli meat on the shelves because they think meat bricks look cool.

                • Malfeasant@lemm.ee
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                  18 天前

                  To be super pedantic, no, ownership of your money never transfers to visa. When your card is swiped (tapped, whatever) visa (or mc or Amex or whoever else) facilitates communication between your bank and the merchant’s bank, but no money moves yet. At the end of the day the merchant settles out those transactions, but that’s still just data. The money moves typically a day or two later, and that is done directly between the customer and merchant’s bank. Source: worked in credit card processing for ~9 years.

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  18 天前

                  If people stop buying products with a harmful supply chain, grocers stop stocking it.

                  this isn’t causal, and the grocers can choose to stop stocking it for any reason or no reason.

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  18 天前

                  The grocer restocks the item you purchased, transferring a portion of your money (less all the upstream overhead/fees) to the manufacturer of your purchased good.

                  they can choose not to do that. it’s not as though they literally re-order every product the moment they sell a unit.

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  18 天前

                  They’re not just putting processed deli meat on the shelves because they think meat bricks look cool.

                  whatever their reason, it’s their choice, not mine.

            • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              18 天前

              By giving them your money, you are funding the operation of the plants that produce the meat

              most people don’t give money to BoarsHead. they give it to a grocer.

  • SirNameHere@lemmy.world
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    18 天前

    Curious, does anyone know if the Jarratt, VA Boar’s Head facility mentioned in the article employees prison labor from the Greensville Correctional Center just down the street?

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    19 天前

    I wonder how much of the state of the place upon that inspection was DUE to:

    The plant has been shut down since late July

    Like, did they say “we’re shutting down” and everyone just fucked off and left the place in a state?

    Or was it just that bad ALL the time?