MINDEN, Nev. (AP) — The Douglas County Commission has denied an appeal by a group of ranchers who want to open a slaughterhouse on the edge of Gardnerville.
The National Chicken Council says a faster line speed would increase efficiency and modernize systems. Food safety advocates are calling the move a victory for both workers and consumers.
Workers at American slaughterhouses and meat processing plants perform thousands of repetitive motions every day. The work often lead to invisible, yet painful and lasting injuries to their bodies.
Slaughterhouses, while safer than decades ago, are some of the country's most hazardous workplaces. They are fined by the government for safety violations, but those fines may not be big enough.
Injuries in the meat industry are likely to be under-reported, a new GAO report finds. Workers may be sent back to the line without seeing a doctor, or may not report out of fear of losing their jobs.
