Chapter 7

What changes did IBP introduce to the meat packing industry?
IBP prioritized output above all else: they created a mass production system requiring minimal skill. In addition to slaughtering cattle, they also packaged them, allowing supermarkets to fire their butchers. With the leftovers, IBP produced dog food and added grinders to their plants to facilitate the production and selling of hamburger meat.

How high is the employee turnover rate in the meat packing industry and why don't the meat packing plants see this as a problem?
The turnover rate in the meat packing industry is around 80% annually. The meat packing plants do not see it as a problem as it releases them of the duty to provide health insurance and vacation days. Another benefit for meat packing plants is that the turnover rate "helps maintain a workforce that is harder to unionize" (Page 161), thus keeping obligations on the plant's side minimal. Furthermore, there is a steady supply of Latin American Americans willing to work at a meat packing plant; many of them do not see the job as being any worse than their alternatives, such as working on a farm ten hours a day for significantly less pay.

What is the impact on small communities of having a meat packing firm?
Having a meat packing firm in the community has several adverse effects on the community: it increases the crime rate, increases the number of medical cases, introduces the selling and distribution of illicit drugs, and increases the gang population. In Lexington, Nebraska, after the opening of a slaughterhouse, the number of serious crimes doubled, as did the number of Medicaid cases, and its crime rate had risen to the highest in Nebraska.