“How can that be?” Kim asked. “As a USDA inspector, can’t you visit any meat establishment?”
“Not where I’m not assigned,” Marsha said. “And especially not a slaughterhouse. They have their own full-time contingent of USDA people. You see, slaughterhouses are akin to nuclear installations as far as visitors are concerned. They don’t need them, and they don’t want them. All they can do is cause trouble.”
“What are the slaughterhouses hiding?” Kim asked.
“Their methods, mostly,” Marsha said. “It’s not a pretty sight in the best of circumstances but particularly after the deregulation of the eighties, slaughterhouses have all pushed up the speed of their lines, meaning they process more animals per hour. Some of them run as much as two hundred fifty to three hundred animals an hour. At that speed contamination can’t be avoided. It’s inevitable. In fact, it is so inevitable that the industry sued the USDA when the agency considered officially calling meat with E. coli contaminated.”
“You can’t be serious,” Kim said.
“Trust me,” Marsha said. “It’s true.”
“You’re saying the industry knows that E. coli is in the meat?” Kim said. “They’re contending it can’t be helped?”
“Exactly,” Marsha said. “Not in all meat, just some of it.”
“This is outrageous,” Kim said. “This is something the public has to find out about. This can’t continue. You’ve convinced me I’ve got to see a slaughterhouse in operation.”
“Which is exactly why the slaughterhouses don’t like visitors.” Marsha said. “And that’s why you’d never get in. Well, that’s not entirely true. Slaughtering has always been a labor-intensive business, and one of their biggest headaches is a constant shortage of help. So I suppose if you got tired of being a cardiac surgeon, you could get a job. Of course, it would help if you were an illegal alien, so they could pay you less than the minimum wage.”
“You’re not painting a very flattering picture,” Kim said.
“It’s reality,” Marsha said. “It’s hard, undesirable work, and the industry has always relied heavily on immigrants. The difference is that today the workers come from Latin America, particularly Mexico, rather than Eastern Europe, where they came from in the past.”
“This is all sounding worse and worse,” Kim said. “I can’t imagine that I’ve never given it any thought. I mean, I eat meat, so in some ways I’m responsible.”
“It’s the downside of capitalism,” Marsha said. “I don’t mean to sound like a radical socialist, but this is a particularly flaming example of profit over ethics: greed with a complete disregard for consequence. It’s all part of what prompted me to join the USDA, because the USDA could change things.”
“If change was considered desirable by those in power,” Kim added.
“True,” Marsha agreed.
“Putting this all in perspective,” Kim said, “we’re talking about an industry that exploits its workforce and feels no compunction about killing hundreds of kids a year.” Kim shook his head in disbelief. “You know, the total lack of ethics that this represents makes me worry even more about you.
“How do you mean?” Marsha asked.
“I’m talking about your going off right now to visit Higgins and Hancock essentially under false pretenses,” Kim said. “By using your USDA I.D., you’ll be suggesting you’re there on official business.”
“Obviously,” Marsha said. “That’s the only way I could get in.”
“Well, as security-minded as they are,” Kim said, “won’t you be taking a risk? And I’m not talking about your job security.”
“I see what you mean,” Marsha said. “Thank you for being concerned, but I’m not worried about my well-being. The worst that could happen is that they’d complain to my boss, like Jack Cartwright has threatened to do.”
“Are you sure?” Kim asked. “If there were any danger, I wouldn’t want you to go. To tell you the truth, after the episode in Mercer Meats, I feel uncomfortable about you doing any more on my behalf. Maybe you should just let me do what I can. If you go out there tonight, I’ll be nervous the entire time.”
“I’m flattered by your concern,” Marsha said. “But I think I should just go and see what I can. I’m not going to get hurt or in any more trouble than I already am. I might not even get in. And as I said, you wouldn’t be able to do anything on your own because you certainly wouldn’t be able to get in.”