John Oliver Has Some Horrifying News About What You’re Eating Tonight

John Oliver has some clucked-up news about where America’s poultry, pork and beef come from. 

The host of “Last Week Tonight” took a deep dive into how poorly workers are treated in the big meatpacking facilities ― in some cases, wearing diapers just so they don’t leave the line.

He examined how the handful of big companies that run the majority of the country’s meatpacking plants have gamed the system to exploit workers, avoid regulation and minimize or coverup safety issues. Even when caught, the fines were so low that there was no incentive to change (the average fine for a serious safety violation was just $3,717). 

“It can be genuinely cheaper for companies to run an unsafe plant and occasionally pay those fines than for them to provide a safe work environment,” Oliver said. 

He also highlighted one incident last year in which six workers at a JBS plant died of coronavirus, leading to a fine of just over $15,000. 

“That fine amounts to .00003% of JBS’ profits last year,” Oliver said. “And if you fine a company a fraction of a percent of their profits, don’t be surprised when they carry on only giving a fraction of a fuck about the welfare of their workers.” 

Check out his full segment below: