SOMETHING TO BEEF ABOUT By Kim Ranjbar
Because of COVID-19, more shoppers have begun turning to local butchers who source from nearby farms. What effect will this have on the meat-packing industry?
Doris Metropolitan
Since the early 1900s, the meat-packing industry has been fraught with problems. Plants' exploitation of workers and highly unsanitary and unsafe practices—brought to light in The Jungle, a novel by Upton Sinclair, portraying the harsh conditions and exploitation of immigrants—led to legislation that would ensure more regulations and better employee treatment. Combined with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and the formation of labor unions, things have gradually improved. However, even with these advancements, slaughterhouse workers in the U.S. are three times more likely to suffer serious injury than the average worker, not to mention their increased risk for mortality from lung cancer and psychological stress and trauma. Today, the rapid spread of COVID-19 among plant workers once more shines a glaring spotlight on the squalid working conditions in the meat-packing industry. Over a dozen large processors, from Smithfield Foods to Tyson, were forced to shut down temporarily, and, combined with an increase in consumer demand due to state shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, grocery store meat was not only becoming scarcer, it was far more expensive. As the general public seems to be increasingly conscious about where their meat comes from, it should come as no surprise that, for those who can afford it, seeking out a local butcher shop that sources from smaller, nearby farms would be the natural solution. “Our sales have definitely increased at the butcher counter,” says Stephen Stryjewski, chef
18
Summer Restaurant Guide | Where Y'at Magazine
and co-owner of the Link Restaurant Group. “I think it's a combination of people wanting to help restaurants, and also, the cost of meat at the grocery store has gone up so exponentially that they would rather buy a better product at a similar price.” At his restaurant/butcher counter Cochon Butcher, the all-natural meats, specifically whole hogs, are sourced from Bill Ryles, who raises a cross-breed of Berkshire Blue hogs. Ryles’s animals are slaughtered in a small abattoir just outside Sulfur, Louisiana, which has not been subjected to the outbreak because employees have been able to maintain safe social-distancing
