AUDIO

The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business

by Christopher Leonard
9 CDs. retail ed. unabridged. 11½ hrs. Tantor Audio. 2014. ISBN 9781494500719. $39.99; 9 CDs. library ed.; 1 MP3-CD. library/retail eds.; digital download. BUS
COPY ISBN
Leonard's exposé of the very few companies at the heart of the American meat industry, his first book, will make listeners pause before they make their next purchase of poultry, beef, or pork. Forty years ago, more than 36 companies produced half of all the chicken Americans ate. Now there are only three that make that amount, and they control every aspect of the process, from the egg to the chicken to the chicken nugget. While this vertical integration model is legal, it comes at the expense of the farmers—and the consumers. Filled with interesting history of how the meat industry got to where it is and how government has attempted to reign it in, the sad story is laid out through excellent journalistic reporting. Narrator John Pruden's fittingly somber tone conveys the gravity of the situation.
VERDICT Recommended for libraries where such books as Salt Sugar Fat and Fast Food Nation are popular.
Reviewed by Donna Bachowski, Orange Cty. Lib. Syst., Orlando, FL , Jun 15, 2014
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