The Slaughterhouse

On Friday our class went to the JBS Slaughterhouse in Plainwell, Michigan.  I was unable to attend because I had class but luckily I was able to hear all about the experience on Monday from my classmates.  Also, we had a guest speaker come in who was able to tell us about his past experiences working at JBS.  I found all of this to be really interesting and I really wish I could have attended the trip.  A lot of people I say that to think it is weird that I wish I could have gone, but in reality when will I ever have that opportunity again?  I know that going on that trip could very well have skewed my outlook on eating meat but sometimes I think that is what we need to happen in order to realize certain things in life.  I am not saying I want to be grossed out but it is one thing to hear about what I am eating and it is another thing to see first hand where my food comes from.  There were many pieces of information that my classmates spoke of from the trip that sounded awful, such as still being able to smell the scent of the blood at the slaughterhouse, I definitely would not want that memory to stick.  Also, hearing about how the cows died was sad to hear, but at the same time it is somewhat what I expected to happen and I was happy to know that it was being handled in a humane manner.  However, I would not have necessarily wanted to see that...
There were many really interesting questions posed by my classmates during our discussion about the trip.  One student brought up how all of the employees are given knives and what would happen if a strike broke out, would that be really dangerous?  Also, we discussed how the employees are affected by the constant killing of animals and how do they deal with doing and being around that all day everyday...  Another thing I did not realize is that every part of the cows is sold somewhere, even the blood!  I could not think of what they did with the blood, but then our guest speaker informed us that it is used in cosmetics and many other things that we use on a regular basis.  It is so interesting to hear about stuff that I use and would have never guessed some of the ingredients.  I am slightly bothered by some of what I have learned but I am also happy to have gained a better understanding of everything too.  I would rather know where my food and other products come from and be appalled than be completely clueless.
I really hope that the next trip my class takes I will be able to attend because I really felt like I missed out and I would like to gain more from these experiences!