The crucial moment for inspection of meat in the United States came in 1905 and 1906 when Upton Sinclair, Jr., an American journalist and novelist published The Jungle. The details of The Jungle described unsanitary working conditions in a Chicago meatpacking house, putting meat consumers at risk for disease. The popularity of Sinclair’s book contributed, in part, to the passing of legislation providing for meat inspection. Yet, today more progress is needed to protect people and reduce food borne illness in America.
