As public health officials remained quiet regarding the size of the COVID-19 outbreaks emerging from Mountaire Farms plants, Martínez refused to stay silent, speaking on behalf of immigrant workers about the conditions they faced. Mariaisela Martínez outside of Mountaire Farms' Siler City plant, where she was hired by NIPCAM to work as a housekeeper. The plant is operated by Mountaire Farms, the fourth-largest chicken company in the country, according to its website. The everyday dangers of food production and processing rarely make headlines-until a deadly virus spreads or a tragic accident claims workers' lives.Īt the end of last March, as the pandemic triggered a rising demand for chicken, Mariaisela Martínez was hired by a company called NIPCAM Services of North Carolina LLC, which provides staffing services to poultry processing plants, to work as a housekeeper at a sprawling nine-acre poultry processing plant in the heart of Siler City. What happens to workers inside poultry plants, where the chickens Americans cook for dinner are slaughtered, processed, and packaged, by and large goes unseen by consumers. While Americans turned to cooking during unprecedented times, there was a human cost for this comfort. ![]() It should come as no surprise then that as the pandemic unfurled across the United States a year ago, poultry disappeared from store shelves as panic-stricken Americans hoarded food in response to reported shortages. ![]() ![]() The average American consumes more than 100 pounds of chicken meat annually-or 8 billion chickens a year, nationwide. Oprima aquí para leer este artículo en Español, gracias a nuestros socios en MigrantRoots. This article was produced in partnership with Type Investigations, where Tina Vasquez is an Ida B.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |