"Germany's new Occupational Safety and Health Inspection Act, passed in December 2020, has banned subcontracting in the meat industry, a practice that was exploited on a large scale to hire migrant workers on less favourable terms and conditions. In an industry that has long been dogged by harrowing tales of working conditions, a mass outbreak of Covid-19 in a meatpacking plant became a catalyst for reform. The Act is an important milestone for the sector not just in Germany but across Europe, where pressure along the supply chain has created similar problems in multiple countries."

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