Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” gave a [somewhat] fictionalized account of the conditions of the meat packing industry in the early 20th century. It paints a gruesome picture. Federal agents sent to the Chicago slaughterhouses to investigate by then President Theodore Roosevelt confirmed the truth of most of the books details. And that was after the plant owners found out they were coming and had the plants thoroughly cleaned.
The market (aka greedy assholes) have conned people into paying for and eating worse things than sawdust.