Chicken Slaughter Plant Allegations of Animal Abuse

Undercover investigators for animal welfare have published another video on conditions inside the Carthage Texas USA slaughter plant of Tyson, taken during the Summer of 2015.





Tyson Foods is one of the world's largest processors and marketers of chicken, beef and pork.

Fox BusinessNews investigated the video and allegations made by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and reported as follows:

In an email to FOXBusiness.com, Tyson Foods says they’re still reviewing the video but want consumers to know that they are committed to proper animal handling and workplace safety.

“Everyone who works with live animals in our plants – including the person who secretly shot this video – is trained in proper animal handling and instructed to report anything they believe is inappropriate. They can report to their supervisor, the Tyson Foods compliance and ethics hotline and even one of the USDA inspectors who have access to all parts of the plant, including live animal handling areas. During the timeframe we believe this video was shot, we have no record of any employees reporting claims of animal handling violations,” the company said via email to FOXBusiness.com.

Tyson says in addition to training, they regularly conduct internal animal handling audits and they’re also subjected to third party audits as well.

“The USDA has authority over production rates. We operate our plants – including the one in Carthage, Texas – well within the limits set by the USDA. The safety of our Team Members is very important to us,” the company adds.

In an e-mail to FOXBusiness.com, the USDA gave the following statement.

"We are looking into the allegations of humane handling abuse at the Texas facility. FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) is dedicated to ensuring that all animals presented for slaughter at FSIS-inspected facilities are treated humanely."

Mother Jones and Food Safety News provide additional information on these allegations.

Tyson is usually seen as a leader in the US chicken industry by the USDA, consumers, and Tyson's peers.

The equipment, chemicals, methods, and training used by Tyson are likely the same or similar to the ones currently used in Canadian slaughter plants, or the Canadian plants would like to upgrade their "inferior and antequated" chicken slaughter plants so they are more like Tyson and its leading competitors.

Until undercover documentation of Canadian chicken slaughter plants occurs, we really don't know for sure what is occurring.  Alternatively, we can wait for Canada's chicken slaughter plants to be fully open, transparent, co-operative, and responsible to consumers.  That may take a while under the top secret Supply Management system of Canada.

No Antibiotics Ever

The millionaire owners of chicken factories are learning new propaganda techniques to continue their steady march to the Billionaire's Club.  Propaganda is cheaper and easier than true change for the better.

There is growing awareness by the public of antibiotic resistance in the food chain and factory farms, and it is being rejected by more and more consumers.  That's why propaganda is the weapon of choice to calm the masses, distracting them into falling back to sleep.

Perdue is #3 in the USA

Perdue Foods Inc. is a privately held poultry company.  Perdue has 8% share in the US poultry market, 3rd biggest after Pilgrim's Pride and Tyson's Foods.

Perdue recently announced their perfection of a method for vaccinating all eggs to be hatched for meat birds without injecting antibiotics into the eggs before they hatch.  It's easier, faster, and cheaper to vaccinate eggs, rather than vaccinating live, squirming chicks who just hatched.

While it may be easier, is it morally right, ethical, and acceptable to inject eggs with whatever drugs, chemicals, and Frankenstein broth the chicken factory owners decides will maximize their profits?

How the Chicken Factory System Works Today

There is a growing use of vaccines in the chicken factories so as to cut the risk for chicken farmers.  Without vaccines, their questionable factory farming practices have significant risk of a major disease outbreak that will decimate the flocks, cutting profits.  A second problem is the variability in the growth rate of the chickens.  Chicken factories prefer that every chicken is like a clone of the other million birds; all of whom behave exactly the same, grow at the same rate, eat the same amount as every other bird; zero variability.  With zero variability, the mad scientists employed by the chicken factories can optimize the chicken factory so that it maximizes their employer's profits, earning a fat bonus for the mad scientists.

However, I say that life is all about variability and diversity.  The mad scientists at chicken factories disagree.

The mad scientists want a chicken factory to behave just like a robotized, computerized manufacturing plant that make widgits.

The chicken factory owners, the bosses of these mad scientists, seek maximum profits regardless of what it does to the chickens, or the meat that is produced by those chickens.

If necessary, the legions of lobbyists who work for the chicken factory owners will get the regulations changed again and again so that it is legal to do what has been found to be more profitable.

That's how the chicken system has worked for the last 50 years.

New Rules ?

Is Perdue out to change the rules?

As the #3 chicken producer, perhaps Perdue plan to become #1 by giving consumers what they truly want and need; wholesome, affordable chicken.

Alternatively, perhaps this is Perdue Propaganda, designed to make them look like the least obnoxious of all the chicken factories.  The "least dirty shirt" is not necessarily a clean shirt.

In April 2014, I Blogged about the CFC finally banning the injection of ceftiofur into Canadian eggs destined for chicken factory meat production.  Eleven years of hell for chicken consumers and the general public, from 2nd Quarter 2003 till the ban in May 2014 with deadly Superbug infections (and who knows what other consequences).

Perdue has now shown that if you spend the efforts to run a sanitary operation, the antibiotic injections are not needed.  Will Perdue's competitors voluntarily choose to follow in Perdue's footsteps, or will consumer's preference force them to grudgingly follow suit?

It didn't take long to find out.

"RWA" (Raised Without Antibiotics) is the latest chicken marketing siren song.  Everybody wants to use it because it allows the chicken factories to demand a higher price, and ensure quick sale of every bird that bears the RWA slogan.

It causes some to want to take the RWA label without earning it.  At least that's the claim of Perdue and Sanderson Farms (5% market share, #5 is the USA).  Perdue and Sanderson Farms are suing Tyson (#2 with 20% market share) for using RWA on their chickens, when Tyson is alleged to dose their chickens with ionofors, chemicals used to prevent or control necrotic enteritis and/or coccideosis; both of which run rampant in chicken factories, not so much of a problem in small flock poultry farms.

When the Titans start battling in court, the documents start being filed to justify their positions.  That's when the public finally learns what has really been going on behind the curtain.  Hopefully we will learn more and more just how crazy chicken factories have become.

Perhaps this growing awareness will allow consumers to say "A Pox on All their Houses", reject all chicken factory operations under their current definition, and return to the sanity of small flock poultry production from somebody in their local community; rather than a chicken factory a continent away.