Yet some of them had suspicions about me that my new hard hat did nothing to allay. Combined, these facilities make up 55% of the beef processing market in Canada. The largest meat company in the U.S. is Cargill Meat Solutions, with 2022 sales reaching $165 billion. The Cargill plant is on the southeastern outskirts of Dodge City, just down the road from a slightly larger meatpacking plant owned by National Beef. Some of the food vendors they sell to include Subway, Starbucks, Papa Johns Pizza, and Pizza Hut. Nothing we can do to convince you to stay, help us out a bit longer? one of the foremen asked me when I approached him to turn in my ID badge. cookies The states in which the children were employed include Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas. Working at Cargill: 3,374 Reviews | Indeed.com Maybe hell become a doctor or a lawyer someday. Whatever they grew up to be, Billion would never allow them to work in a meatpacking plant. with many products available. United States. When I woke in the mornings, my fingers were so stiff and swollen that I could hardly bend them. It was one of his specialties, something he had learned to make in the refugee camp. Major U.S. Beef Plant Locations - Google My Maps I had been working at the plant for three weeks by then, and my hands constantly throbbed with pain. 1252 Route 706 Wyalusing Twp PA 18853 (570) 746-3000 Claim this business (570) 746-3000 Website More Directions Advertisement Cargill Meat Solutions produces beef and pork products under the Excel Farm Genuinely Better brand. Some jostle with their neighbors. I then walk down a long hallway that leads to the production floor. Known mostly for their poultry products, like chicken nuggets, Buffalo wings, and tenders, Tyson is the largest meat producer in the US for all kinds of meats. Then, in 1961, a company called Hyplains Dressed Beef opened the first meatpacking plant in town (the same one now operated by National Beef). On the morning of May 25, 2019, a food-safety inspector at a Cargill meatpacking plant in Dodge City, Kansas, came across a disturbing sight. The Cargill Cattle Company is committed to bringing you the highest quality and best-tasting beef. It was the most overt act of political expression I witnessed at the plant. That's not just better. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Food giant Cargill fires slaughterhouse cleaning firm PSSI that hired kids And he was trying to right himself, which the animals commonly do by arching their back. phone 320-324-6491 location_on 22815 540th Ave Alberta Minnesota US Albion. By the Fourth of July, I was close enough to pulling count that Billion told me I qualified. Billion told me all of this shortly before our 30-minute dinner break, which, along with our earlier 15-minute break, I had come to cherish. Considering the fact that up to 95% of Americans eat meat as a staple part of their diet, its clear that the meat industry plays such a huge role in peoples lives. OSI operates both as a retail producer as well as a wholesale supplier. She let this sink in for a few moments, before moving on to the next PowerPoint slide: Thats a good transition into workplace violence. She began explaining Cargills zero-tolerance policy on guns. National Beef Packing Co., LLC, housed in Dodge City, Kansas, is one of the company's highest-volume plants in the world. Category Management: Our category management team creates shelf-space solutions based on data. There are tables for shank, brisket, sirloin, round, and so on. Practically overnight, Dodge City became, in the words of a prominent local businessman, the greatest cattle market in the world. This was the era of lawmen like Wyatt Earp and gunfighters like Doc Holliday, of gambling and shoot-outs and barroom brawls. And the responsibility of being an industry leader demands a relentless dedication to peerless service, day in and day out. Face coverings were mandatory. Our Locations JBS Foods Privacy Policy. Cargill Meat Solutions - MapQuest Click to reveal Karen rebels were in the middle of a long insurgency against the countrys central government. According to Human Rights Watch, government statistics show that from 2015 to 2018, a meat or poultry worker lost a body part or was sent to the hospital for in-patient treatment about every other day. Farbest Foods is one of the largest turkey companies in the United States and a respected leader in the industry. She just wanted the pregnancy to go better than her last one. I watched him drop the maimed frog into the burlap sack, which Leo held with outstretched arms. It should heal in a few days, the nurse said after she wrapped a bandage around the resulting half-inch-long gash. Despite the Department of Labors warnings that child labor violations have increased since 2015, Republican lawmakers across the country have in recent months been pushing for the expansion of the types of approved work, as well as work hours. My job on the chuck table turned out to be much more difficult than I had anticipated. Thats Genuinely Better. The states in which the children were employed include Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas. Three days after the incident occurred, the USDAs Food Safety and Inspection Service, citing the plants history of compliance, put the plant on notice for its failure to prevent inhumane handling and slaughter of livestock. FSIS ordered the plant to create an action plan to ensure that such an incident didnt happen again. Your IP: By that point, in early June, COVID-19 had forced at least 30 meatpacking plants across the United States to pause operations and, according to the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, had killed at least 74 workers. The government hasnt done anything for me. It seemed clear that he didnt plan to vote. The lemurs seemed especially happy about this. I didnt ask where hed gotten it. 85 locations in. California Residents - California Residents - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The supervisors didnt seem to care; many of them did the same thing. And now that my hands were stronger, I was getting better at the job. Your IP: We pretty much feed the world. On the way back to our cars, Billion talked excitedly about the spicy frog curry he planned to cook for dinner the next day. Most of the men eventually got used to my presence on the line. Conagra also produces many non-meat products, but theyre best known for their meat-producing brands like Banquet, Dukes, Egg Beaters, Hebrew National, Hungry-Man, Kid Cuisine, Marie Callenders, Slim Jim, and Van de Kamps. Seeing them alive like this makes my job harder, but I look at them anyway. I need something more powerful. I decided not to ask him about the election. Nothing is worse than trying to cut meat with a dull knife. In a white tent at the entrance to the plant, a team of medical personnelall of whom wore N95 masks, white coveralls, and gloveschecked temperatures and handed out disposable face masks. offers FT membership to read for free. The High Plains of southwestern Kansas are home to four major meatpacking plants: the two in Dodge City, plus one in Liberal (National Beef) and another near Garden City (Tyson Foods). If he saw that I was tired, he might grab a knife and work alongside me for a while. Like Koch Foods, Sanderson Farms focuses exclusively on poultry products. star. I did also meet people at the plant who supported Joe Biden, many of them because they couldnt stand Trump. High River, Calgary - "Grim Reapers" holding scythes with the message "Slaughterhouses Kill Animals and Workers" on them will be outside the High River Cargill slaughterhousewhich is showing no mercy for animals or workers by reopening, even though nearly 900 employees (nearly 25% . What It's Like Inside the Cargill Meatpacking Plant in Dodge City - The When he opens them and lifts his head, I nod approvingly and give him another thumbs-up. I work at table two: the chuck table. Located at 500 West Wyatt Earp Boulevard, near Gunsmoke Street and the Gunfighters Wax Museum, the Boot Hill Museum is anchored by a full-scale replica of the once-famous Front Street. As time went on, he would turn to me to talk about his latest marital drama or to ask questions about traveling abroad. It was surreal to see the slaughter process in reverse, to witness step-by-step what it would take to reassemble a cow: shove its organs back into its body cavities; reattach its head to its neck; pull its hide back over its flesh; draw blood back into its veins. Your IP: Using more than 400,000 square feet in two processing plants and two distribution centers, Farbest Foods processes nearly 15 million live turkeys each year. They operate in 45 states and employ over 140,000 people across their operations. Because you guys want to eat, right? Everyone nodded. Each row is called a table, and each table has a number. Inside the pen are hundreds of cows waiting to be slaughtered. I thought to myself. Read: How the meat industry thinks about non-meat-eaters. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Then I went to Florida and I was fine. I looked at her incredulouslythen went for something even stronger, splurging on a bottle of 114-proof Willett. I asked him what he was cutting. OMAHA, Neb. I sat outside and talked with a middle-aged Somali man. You cant be here without a face shield. I apologized and told him that I would get going. He gives me a thumbs-up, tilts his head to the side, and shrugs his shoulders. Maybe Ill be a billionaire one day, he told me when I asked him how he had chosen his new name. Chuck cap puller was immediately out because it involved walking and cutting at the same time. Its just crazy: Republicans attack US child labor laws as violations rise, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. He showed me how to put on a chain-mail tunic that looked made for a knight, layers of gloves, and a white-cotton frock. And, because meat producers can include companies that specialize in just beef or poultry production as well as a mix of producing types of meat, youll see all types of companies on this list. But after working in a meatpacking plant, I found it comforting to see so many animals that were still alive, even if they were in cages. I had worked at the Monitor from 2014 to 2018. He laughed, as if embarrassed by sharing this part of his American dream. 73 locations in. Founded in 1872 along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, Dodge City was originally an outpost for buffalo hunters. Cargill California, MO Its disregarding their welfare, Reid Maki, director of child labor issues and coordinator at the Child Labor Coalition, told the Guardian. A few of my co-workers fist-bump me as they walk by. In a state where cows outnumber people two to one, where more than 5 billion pounds of beef are produced annually, and where many familiesincluding mine, when my three sisters and I were youngerfill their deep freezer once a year with a side of beef, its easy to take a steak dinner for granted. Tomorrow after work Im going frog hunting with my brother-in-law, he said. This was a relatively tame solution, I discovered. Hormel includes products under the Hormel name as well as their subsidiaries, like Applegate, Country Crock, Jennie-O, and Spam. On my last trip to the stack, I tried to be inconspicuous. The steak was as good as any Ive had. A few minutes later, one of the chuck boners bangs the edge of the belt with the handle of his hook. Under the Tyson foods name are also popular brands like Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright Brand, Aidells, and State Fair. The facility produces portioned packaged steaks and ground beef for its centrally located customers, working hand in hand with the USDA to help ensure . Jobs at Cargill The U.S. meat industry employs roughly 500,000 people and has resulted in the creation up to 2 million additional bi-product jobs. Though I often felt a profound sense of alienation on the line, I never once felt alone. We believe in satisfying customers ours and yours. Dahlia was four months pregnant. The two facilities sit at opposite ends of. (modern). The latter got a couple of responses: fok you and chinga tu madre. Billion slid a knife from the scabbard and demonstrated how to sharpen it using a counterweight sharpener. Meat Processing | Cargill Canada You arent an undercover boss, are you? he asked me late one shift. New cases were hitting record numbers, hospitals were strained for resources, and deaths were on the rise. It was there that he met Toe Kwee, whose English name is Dahlia. The line slows down and everyone keeps glancing over at the cooler, waiting for the last side of beef to come down the chain. Rather than kill it, he left it alive and broke its hind legs. OSI is unique because they have been recognized several times for their commitment to employee health and safety as well as environmental measures. The online application for general production was six pages long. (A Cargill spokesperson said that the company is not aware of any trend in the plant of illegal use of either drug.). New Zealand. On many days last summer, I found the stench of lactic acid, hydrogen sulfide, manure, and death to be nauseating. That Dodge City became home to two meatpacking plants is a fitting coda to the towns early history. I cut into the next piece of chuck that came down the line, surprised by how easily my knife sliced through the chilled meat. Excel Fresh Meats gives you more than just quality beef that transforms first-time customers into repeat buyers. The tables are one of the most crowded areas in the plant. He rolled up his right sleeve to reveal a four-inch scar on the outside of his elbow. Search Job. I decided that I would leave on Sunday. Performance & security by Cloudflare. I was trying to flip over a piece of chuck when I lost my grip and drove the tip of my hook into the palm of my right hand. Perhaps it was someone from the small community of Karen people in Garden City. Outside, the night air was frigid. He later gave me a white hard hat to replace the brown one that I had received during orientation. We use You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many users needs. I dont know if its true, but I did it religiously over the summer. The plant also hired a company called Examinetics to screen employees before each shift. Find a Location | CargillAg This article appears in the July/August 2021 print edition with the headline Pulling Count., The Rise and Fall of an American Tech Giant, 6 Months Inside One of Americas Most Dangerous Industries, The Authoritarian Instincts of Police Unions. The processor which had the largest number of employed minors is JBS Foods, with 27 children employed, followed by Cargill Inc, which had 26 employed children. Stay Informed He did this for about half a minute without saying a word. They were what made his work essential.