A while ago, the "fake vermicelli" incident of Sister Northeast Yu, an Internet celebrity, aroused heated discussions among the majority of netizens, and also put the commonplace issue of food safety in front of the people again. In the past ten years, we have experienced malignant food safety problems such as Sudan dyes, melamine, trough meat, starchy sausages, foot sauerkraut, flavored Thailand fragrant rice, etc., which has also sounded the alarm for us, and food safety issues must be taken seriously and urgently.
Written by United States writers Upton · Sinclair, "The Slaughterhouse" sparked a strong response to food safety in United States public at the time by describing the serious food safety problems in meat processing factories in the early 20th century United States. This novel, published in 1906, directly promoted the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Administration Act, and changed the history of food safety in United States.
Lithuania immigrants Eugis and his family rushed from their hometown to Chicago United States high expectations, where they found a job and thought they would achieve their dream of establishing a United States here, but they were hit by an unimaginable blow. In the world of capitalist society, there is a lot of drama about the jungle. Yugis found a job in a slaughterhouse, but lost his job due to injuries, his wife Ona was raped, and his son drowned. Under the successive blows, Yugis's mentality is also quietly changing, and the dirty meat processing factory becomes the beginning of his depravity.
Fortunately, Eugis did not completely fall into the abyss of depravity, and in the struggle against the capitalists who brutally exploited him, Eugis gradually found his purpose in life and learned to save himself with faith. The socialist movement saved Eugis and gave him hope and a chance to get out of this slaughterhouse exploited by the capitalists.
In Upton · Sinclair's pen, Eugis exposes the true face of a disgusting meat processing plant, with bad pork, dead rats, and a dirty sanitary environment, which makes the reader feel sick. Although Sinclair's intention was not to expose food safety issues, it has become a major concern in his depiction of the darkness of capitalism. The mercenary capitalists do not care about the physical and mental health of the people, and do not hesitate to sacrifice the health of consumers in order to make profits, and these dirty meat factories are also a true portrayal of the darkness of capitalism.
To gather materials, Sinclair spent seven weeks at a large slaughterhouse in Chicago, where he witnessed a disgusting meat processing plant on the front line. Sinclair became a shady whistleblower, sparking a heated discussion about food safety issues and leading to shady whistleblowing activities in many areas. It is said that the then President of United States, Roosevelt, became a vegetarian through and through after reading "The Slaughterhouse", which shows the great influence of this book.
In fact, food problems have been common, and a large number of problematic foods will be exposed at the 315 party every year. However, for the food industry as a whole, this is not enough, and only more people can step up and work together to change this. Don't ignore the power of the individual, sometimes the little people can set off a storm to clean up the food industry.