Torrents of water shoot through the cavities of chickens moving down the line. Hundreds of people work within these cold, damp walls, yet their voices cannot be heard above the din of roaring machinery and whooshing water. The floors glisten with moisture and grease as water rains from everything. Inside a dank concrete room the size of an airplane hangar, guts, condemned birds and heads drop from pipes in the ceiling, landing with a splash into a hopper holding 270,000 pounds a viscous, bloody stew. In another room, three rocket-shaped cookers stretch skyward, boiling the mixture down to its essence.
Greasy dust cakes the walls.
A sour odor permeates every corner. The water flowing through slaughterhouses and rendering plants passes through treatment tanks much like public sewer works, then spills into creeks and rivers, still containing some pollution. Despite increasingly strict environmental rules, some are today putting out more pollution than ever, because they are killing more birds and using more water. Where once slaughterhouses simply killed and dressed chickens and then sent them to market whole, the modern penchant for convenience has placed a premium on boneless, skinless breast, marinated chicken, custom-sized nuggets. More processing steps require more water, straining the capacity of the plants to catch pollution before it spills into creeks.