Every Twelve Seconds

October 1, 2011
An in-depth examination by an undercover academic about the slaughtering of cattle for food. Pachirat (Politics/New School Univ.) settled in Omaha in 2004 to conduct participant-observation research at a large slaughterhouse processing 2,500 cattle per day. He obtained employment after only the most cursory of interviews, partly because he looked the part (he is half Thai and therefore brown skinned) and partly because the turnover at slaughterhouses often reaches 100 percent annually. The author writes that he was determined to publish an interesting narrative, unlike most books by academics, often just expansions of their dissertations. Mostly, he succeeds, despite his interjections of theory derived from scholars both well known and obscure. The primary theory revolves around how societies keep unpleasant institutions as invisible as possible from the consuming public. Pachirat's firsthand descriptions of how the cattle are killed and butchered are graphic and stomach turning. He says the book is not intended primarily to promote animal rights or turn meat eaters into vegetarians, but his narrative may encourage those results among some readers. An appendix titled "Division of Labor on the Kill Floor" lists 121 steps involved from the time the cattle arrive at the slaughterhouse until they have been dismembered and the animal products packaged for shipping. Another appendix lists a few dozen "Cattle Body Parts and Their Uses," including the blood, used as a "sausage ingredient, sticking agent for insecticides, and blood meal for livestock and pet food." Throughout the process, Pachirat worried that he would be outed within the plant; instead, his advanced education and eloquence worked to his advantage as he was promoted to quality-control examiner. In that position, he provides alarming insights about evading the meat inspectors meant to enforce sanitation. A fascinating, gut-wrenching study--but absolutely not for the weak of stomach.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2011

From June to December 2004, Pachirat (politics, New Sch.) worked at a cattle slaughterhouse in Nebraska. During his tenure, he worked in three distinct areas: in the cooler as a liver hanger, on the killing floor herding cattle to the knocking box, and in quality control. Through these disparate positions, he gained a thorough understanding of the formal and informal rules that govern American slaughterhouses. His conclusions are grim--bureaucracy and ineptitude combine in a way that does not bode favorably for food safety. He argues that industrialized slaughter is a hidden world tolerable only because it is invisible to most. Repugnant tasks like the ones associated with processing cattle should be more transparent and would perhaps be duly transformed as a result. Complete with meticulous diagrams showing each worker's position in the slaughterhouse, descriptions of each worker's job duties, and an appendix detailing cattle body parts and their uses, this compelling documentary work illuminates in great detail the workings of an industrial slaughterhouse. VERDICT For anyone curious about the origin of beef in America or those interested in the politics of concealment.--Diana Hartle, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens

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