Historically the difference between slaughterhouse and meat packer are very different. Early on, the slaughtering part took place on the farm and the carcasses were delievered to River towns where the carcasses were cut up and cooked, then put into stoe jars and had the grease poured over top of the cooked meat. Hence the word "packer or packinghouse". As a result, this shipping of carcasses from the farm required cold temps to keep the meat in good shape while traveling tothe packer. As a result, I firmly believe this is the reason property taxes in Iowa are due in colder months, when farmers had the opportunity to make some hard cash to pay those taxes. Just a side bar to what probably is a very good book!
I would bet that most people don't really understand what our food goes through from the source to our stores. This sounds like a great book for everyone to read.
Historically the difference between slaughterhouse and meat packer are very different. Early on, the slaughtering part took place on the farm and the carcasses were delievered to River towns where the carcasses were cut up and cooked, then put into stoe jars and had the grease poured over top of the cooked meat. Hence the word "packer or packinghouse". As a result, this shipping of carcasses from the farm required cold temps to keep the meat in good shape while traveling tothe packer. As a result, I firmly believe this is the reason property taxes in Iowa are due in colder months, when farmers had the opportunity to make some hard cash to pay those taxes. Just a side bar to what probably is a very good book!
I would bet that most people don't really understand what our food goes through from the source to our stores. This sounds like a great book for everyone to read.
Very thoughtful review, and I appreciated both the praise, and the the reasoned criticism.