In the center of the plot - the life of the young Lithuanian emigrant in the United States, however, many of the motives of corruption and antisanitation in the meat processing industry of the early 20th century in the book.
The main hero of Jurgis, the working slaughterhouse, as well as other visits, is in the literal sense to fight for existence. The book describes the antisanitary and unsuitable working conditions of immigrants from other countries: "The meat was filled in the premises of huge piles. The ceiling was dripped on the meat of a drop in the meat. Thousands of rats were again. In the warehouses were dark and hard to see everything, but it was difficult to make a hand on a pile Meat - and the palm was filled with a dry rat litter. They fought with rats - they scattered poisoned bread. Rats ducked. Meat, rats, bread went to the meat grinder ... "
Immediately after the yield, the novel caused a large public resonance. President Roosevelt, who in power at that time, received several hundred letters per day with demands to stop chaos in meat processing. Thanks to the work of Sinclera, the leadership of the country paid special attention to the safety of the food industry and in 1930 established the Office for the quality control of products and drugs, whose tasks include monitoring the observance of legislation in maintaining the quality of food.