Award-winning food journalist Andrew Wasley has spent the best part of two decades investigating the hidden costs of cheap meat. He’s revealed the brutal conditions inside factory farms and abattoirs, exposed the devastating environmental impacts of industrial agribusiness and uncovered shocking food safety scandals that put the health of millions at risk. This is the full, inside story of his journey into the heart of the global meat machine.

The scale of food safety and hygiene problems in meat plants around much of the UK is revealed by new analysis showing more than half of all audited plants have had at least one “major” breach in the last three years. Inspection figures from the FSA reveal there were on average 16 major plant safety infractions every week

More than a million chickens a year are dying while being transported to slaughter, according to official figures figures obtained by i and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism which give rise to fresh concern over welfare standards in Britain’s £7.6bn meat industry.