Major developments in the meatpacking industry from the early 1900s to the present include laws put in place by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) aim to improve working conditions, protect animal welfare, and improve the quality of meat sold to consumers Working conditions have been a major problem in the meat processing industry since the early 1900s and have seen some improvement since. poor and harsh working conditions, low wages, long working hours, and risk of injury and death. Employees worked in dark, unventilated rooms that were unbearably hot in summer and freezing in winter. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, he takes a tour of a slaughterhouse. According to Schlosser, to protect employees from plagiarism. cut by sharp knives, they wear kilos of “chain mail”. Chain mail is a type of steel armor that is flexible enough to allow workers to move while protecting them from injury. However, chain mail is not always an effective method of preventing worker injuries. Additionally, employees usually wear knee-length rubber boots because there is usually a large amount of blood on the floor. Employees are extremely close together while working quickly on a slaughterhouse assembly line. Even though working conditions are better today than they were in the early 1900s, employees are still expected to work quickly, which can lead to accidents and injuries. Even though technology has benefited the meatpacking industry, working in a slaughterhouse remains the most dangerous job in the United States. In the early 1900s, unskilled workers were immigrants and typically earned pennies an hour (Meat Packing Industry, 2008). Skilled workers didn't fare much better, earning about fifty cents an hour and working ten hours a day, six days a week. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted to establish the minimum wage and addressed the issue of overtime and child labor. Women working in the meat processing industry were often sexually exploited, either by being raped by their bosses or forced into prostitution to support themselves due to low wages. According to The Jungle, Ona was repeatedly raped by her boss and forced into prostitution after being blackmailed by her boss. Men were generally paid more than women, even though they generally performed similar tasks. Today, the meat processing industry is run by large numbers of illegal immigrants, who receive extremely low wages. Due to low employee wages, slums remain a problem today. The fast food industry mainly employs teenagers, immigrants and the elderly. They often receive a low minimum wage, for long hours, because they don't need many skills to work in a fast food establishment. However, the minimum wage has been increasing for decades. Since 2015 until today, many states are fighting fora minimum wage of fifteen dollars. However, not all states have converted to a higher minimum wage due to the negative effects. In the early 1900s, the risk of injury and even death was common and often avoidable. The assembly line system allowed the process to happen quickly and easily; however, the lines moved so fast that a man could accidentally cut his finger cutting the carcasses so quickly. In The Jungle, Sinclair explains that an ox broke free from its chains and Jurgis tried to escape but twisted his ankle with the tool that collects the cattle's blood. Similarly, today, slaughterhouses use an assembly line system. However, it is not as dangerous as it was in the early 1900s. With technology constantly evolving, skilled workers are not needed for an assembly line process. Although much progress has been made in working conditions since the early 1900s, the meatpacking industry remains as dangerous today as it was then. Animal welfare in the meatpacking industry has gradually improved since the USDA began implementing laws to prevent inhumane slaughter. The animals were slaughtered without being stunned and were often still alive when they were butchered. According to Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, animals were slit before death, causing a long and painful death, until they were plunged into boiling water. The Humane Slaughter Act of 1978 guaranteed a quick and painless death by rapid and effective means of stunning. According to Schlosser, slaughterhouses follow the correct procedure by stunning the beef, killing it or rendering it insensitive to pain. However, not all oxen are killed immediately after being stunned and chained to the ceiling. For example, an ox fell from the ceiling at the end of a conveyor belt while still alive and struggling. To keep the cattle calm and unaware of their fate, the path leading to the slaughterhouse prevents entering cattle from seeing other slaughtered cattle. This prevents cattle from feeling less anxious and stressed than they should be. Many technological advances are used in the meatpacking industry to slaughter livestock in the most humane way possible. Captive bolt guns are used to effectively stun and kill livestock, typically killing them within ninety-six seconds. Compared to the early 1900s, cattle experience as little pain as possible during the slaughter process. The quality of meat sold to consumers was terrible in the early 1900s. According to The Jungle, spoiled meat was usually canned, smoked, or chopped to prevent the public from seeing the bad spot. Additionally, sausages were stored near rodent droppings, and if the meat fell to the floor, it would simply be dusted off before being put back on the assembly line. A government inspector was present, but many carcasses were not inspected. Shortly after the publication of The Jungle, the seriousness of the meatpacking industry was brought to public attention. That same year, Congress passed the Federal Food and Drug Act of 1906 to prevent the manufacture and sale of unwanted products. Congress also passed the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, which ensured that produce was slaughtered and handled using a sanitary process in the presence of government inspectors. Today, food poisoning caused by..