About 26,600 nonfatal injuries in the meat and poultry industry alone were reported in 2021, according to a D.C.-based nonprofit.
Sustainable Earth Eating is spreading awareness of these injuries as Americans buy food produced by agricultural workers to celebrate Labor Day.
“Your dinner might be costing someone an arm and a leg,” the nonprofit said in a news release.
The nonprofit listed a number of reasons for this high injury rate in a news release, including how meat factories work 24/7 shifts.
Undocumented workers who work in the industry may avoid reporting hazardous conditions over fears they could lose their jobs or be deported, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute that uses data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The meat and poultry industry is one of the most dangerous industries, according to the nonprofit, but the agricultural sector is incredibly dangerous overall.
From 2015 to 2020, there were 573 fatalities in the sector and 62,079 agricultural workers were treated in emergency rooms for nonfatal injuries related to their jobs, according to a Penn State study of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A professor at the university, Judd Michael, who authored the study, told Sustainable Earth Eating that he was most concerned by the rate of young people being injured, with a third of injuries involving youth workers during that five year period.
“We were surprised at the sheer number of farm related injuries and concerned by the high number of youths who were injured,” Michael said.
Sustainable Earth Eating is pushing for better monitoring of these industries and for Americans to take up a more plant-rich diet.
“Responsible, accurate measurement and monitoring is needed,” said Jane DeMarines, executive director of Sustainable Earth Eating, in a news release. “This data points up the need for improvements in employee safety, especially for youth.”
