Capitol Hill Quackery : Congress Attacks Poultry Farmers

Throughout the Perdue farms across the country, there has been evidence of overcrowding and unethical treatment to the chickens kept in the barns. This past December, footage of workers stomping on the necks of chickens in a North Carolina Perdue chicken farm was released by Mercy for Animals, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty in the food industry (“Watch”). With the introduction of this video, the organization stated that the only direct solution to this problem is to become vegetarian, but I refuse to believe that that is the only option. I am personally concerned with what foods and chemicals I am putting into my body, and it makes me uncomfortable knowing that I am consuming chicken that has been covered in

Many years ago, backyard chickens were commonplace throughout the United States of America – mainly for nutrition. During that time, backyard chickens were easy to take care of and a small number of them could feed a family with meat and eggs for a bargain. Years later, manufacturing food became the way of life and

Factory farming is a practice that is used to keep up and sustain the supply and demand for different types of animal meat. A poultry factory farm that will be discussed is Perdue Farms. Perdue Farms is established and operated in the United States and has a processing facility where they raise and slaughter chickens. Perdue Farms is meeting the needs of the consumers by supplying and mass producing poultry for consumption. One may view this of being a success by having a well-established, profitable business that is fulfilling their responsibilities to the consumers. While that may be true, they are not fulfilling their ethical responsibility to the animals. These animals are in close quarters where they are nested in urine and feces. There can even be instances where they will be sitting on or near deceased chickens until their cage is chosen for slaughter. Since these animals are massively produced the use of hormones and antibiotics are used to sustain life and growth. On top of the poor, dirty living conditions these animals are also giving additives that will eventually make it to the consumer. The process has an impact on those employed by the corporation and those who purchase products from them.

It has been taken over by large companies and marketed at high price. Our food is grown based on demand, not on health. In the film, Food, Inc., the chickens and cows are raised to be slaughtered as quick as possible. They are beefed up with feed that is full of antibiotics that become harmful for digestion. The chicken that are raised are in small areas where they have never been exposed to sunlight. There are plenty that die each day because of the conditions they are being kept in. The chicken’s organs cannot keep up with their growth, therefore, they cannot take two steps. Cows are basically in the same situation as the chickens. They are being fed corn instead of grass and are confined to small areas. Listening to the documentary about how the chances of cows being cleaned before slaughtered is traumatizing. That is the food that we eat and how we are supposed to have our intake of energy. If this is how the industry is treating the population we have today, I do not see much difference for the population

“For most humans, especially for those in modern urban and suburban communities, the most direct form or contact with non-human animals is at meal time: we eat them. This simple fact is the key to what each one of us can do about changing these attitudes. The use and abuse of animals raised for food far exceeds, in sheer numbers of animals affected, any other kind of mistreatment” (Coats). The most effective method to stop this cruelty is to learn about where the meat comes from, by supporting the organic and family farms which will ultimately lead to the reducing the amount of animals that have to suffer (PETA). More than 95 percent of animal abuse in America occurs in the meat packing industry (Harper & Low). Animals suffer an unimaginable amount, they are raised to be killed, then bought and then consumed. In order to help fight back against the abuse, there needs to be a cut back on the amount of meat or poultry that is consumed. Seriously consider the option of becoming a vegetarian; by not eating meat, you completely stop supporting animal

The living conditions of chickens are dreadful and appalling. What came first the chicken or the egg? Chicken farming is found particularly in the Southeast margin of the United States (“Factory Farm Map”). It is explained that, “chickens and hogs on factory farms have no access to the outdoors, fresh air or natural light” (“Factory Farms Map”). This exemplifies one situation of how chickens are poorly treated in the factory farms. In addition, even before the chickens are born, they are treated horribly. More than 125,000 to one million hens can be living in the same factory together (Hobson). Along with crowded living spaces, these animals suffer being “docked,” which means they are declawed and stripped of all teeth (Hobson). This shows how bad the conditions

It’s problematic that we don’t question the food we eat whether it be from McDonalds or a fancy upscale restaurant. We need to be more aware of what is going on around us especially when the food we eat is causing an array of health issues for us. The unsanitary conditions found within the factory farm industry contributes to the pathogens found in the meat we eat. As the saying goes you get what you pay for. Factory farming is based upon producing large quantities of meat at a very low cost. This driving force behind the system is not worth getting food poising or something detrimental. In the chapter “Influence / Speechlessness” the habitats of the chickens are displayed “jamming deformed, drugged,

Walking through your local grocery store, such as Kroger’s, you will see the isle filled of poultry, with variation from chicken, beef, veal, and steak. People often question the high cost of the meats and their quality, but do they ever question where their meat is coming from or how it was processed? I would assume the answer is no. In the New York Times article “U.S. Research Lab Lets Livestock Suffer in Quest for Profit” we are introduced to the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) and exposed to their inhumane experiments being used on our livestock’s, which in turn is the meat we buy in our stores. Although some experts such as Robert R. Oltjen, the center’s director, argue that humans are superior to

The book “The Meat Racket” by Christopher Leonard basically is an informative book that discusses the chicken business of Tyson Foods and how it has been affecting farmers. The book mainly focuses on exposing the model of business that Tyson Foods has put in place to guarantee their business is a success. The success of the company is however painted to be at the expense of the farmers who continue to rot in poverty. The book also explains how Tyson Foods have effectively enslaved Americans in the name of contract rearing of chickens.

When I was in Chicago, I went to a restaurant for breakfast. I ordered eggs and bacon as usual. 5 hours later I has major stomach pain that lasted 2 hours and felt like I was dying. Turns out, the eggs and bacon weren’t cooked properly and gave me food poisoning. My worst is that I develop e-coli and die. The USDA makes me sick because they do nothing when it comes to food inspections, contamination of food and drinks, and the deaths of people by e-coli and food-borne illnesses. I personally believe any food company such as, Purdue and Tyson chicken, are scared because they don’t want to face the truth about their meat products. Last year I wrote a letter to Chick-Fil-A Headquarters discussing their chicken. I found out they have been adding antibiotics and growth hormones into heir chickens. I for one was outrages by this news and immediately boycotted them and got all my family members to boycott them with me as well.

There is a large problem of animal cruelty linked to the food industry in the United States. Countless slaughterhouses, chicken farms, and other meat producers have been found guilty of harming animals and killing them inhumanely. This is something that clearly needs to change.

Those few companies employ practices of increasing more and more product for the less cost. The practices of factory farming lead to the ease of contamination of food products. And when it comes time to deal with an outbreak, it becomes filled with bureaucracy to delay and relay the blame of the event. The companies can hire illegal immigrants to save on costs. They can get away with lying to the consumer and being a repeat offender because they have such influence in lawmakers. There are even states that have Veggie-Liable laws that don’t allow talk about opinions against food production practices. This level of control is quite scary for the actual consumer. They can get away with practices that are undoubtedly harmful towards the consumer. I think this kind of business practice in the food production industry is quite catastrophic behavior. We can’t have self-policing regulations because the major players aren’t going to want to do what’s best for the consumer. But it is difficult battle for the consumer to face. The only thing they can personally do is try to purchase the kind of products they want. But it becomes a losing battle for them when the diversity of products is an illusion and they come in losing from the

Even though factory farms have several problems they do however have some advantages such as their low cost and the jobs they provide for communities. They have such a low cost because the care of the poultry in these farms is often over looked. Poultry in factory farms are put into stressful and dangerous situations every day that cause them physical and emotional pain (“Farm Animals”). When chickens have their beaks trimmed because of outbreaks of violence it causes them extreme pain, but the problem could be solved if they were just given more space (“Farm Animals”). The abundance of jobs they create also comes at a cost, workers breathe in many toxic gasses every day and often times contract bronchitis from these gasses (“Factory Farm Workers”). In conclusion factory farmed poultry and eggs from factory farmed poultry should not be consumed by people even though they do have some

Ranchers are not permitted to demonstrate those chickens to anyone aside from for that industrial facility workers since it was in the agreement and ranchers want to profit for themselves. When they get in slaughterhouse those all chickens put in one slaughterhouse. Some of those chickens never got food because there are a considerable measure of chickens. They don't have enough space to go through there because of that a ton of the chickens gets sickness. Due to the illness a considerable measure of chickens are dead. At the point when chickens are dead their blood smells truly awful and on account of that a lot chickens are dead. The more chickens they have as a result of that the more chickens are dead. They keep those chickens for over two months. They discard the greater part of the chickens and they just throw chickens which had infections. They keep healthy ones and place them in a mammoth a truck. What's more, take those chickens back to their industrial facilities. In any case, in two months they increase their population by twofold or double. However, the vast majority of them got dead on account of food and the food

Have you ever thought of the cows? Do you ever wonder if their misfortune actually helps your bones grow? Oh sure, we all have heard about the negative effects of slaughterhouses, but how about dairy farms? Upton Sinclair put the idea of slaughter houses in your head, but did you ever consider how that Brie got to your plate? Hours and hours of nonstop milking are done by the hands of farmers, but most likely your Brie came from the milk of cows that were tortured by milking machines and were put on medication to produce excess milk beyond their natural abilities. Milk is a byproduct of medicine. The cows become intoxicated with medicine just to produce enough milk to fill supermarkets so you can give it to your children. Is that what you really want? To fill your children with the milk made for a calf? Did you ever think of her as a mother who wishes to solely raise her calf? However, she is forced to live a life slave to man and his desire to consume cow milk. Perhaps the chicken is more near and dear to your heart. The dead chicken fetus that will not have the ability to breathe for the first time. And her poor mother who will stay all her life in a chicken coop trapped in a lightless room until the end of her days. Did you ever think of her? According to the USDA “Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside” (FSIS). This astonishing fact does not specify any quantity of time that a chicken would be allowed outside. Technically, a farmer can get a “free range” label if he has a door for the chickens to go out of. Because of the vague wording the USDA provided, farmers avoid letting their chickens out, but still put “free range” because their chickens have “access” to the outside world. Hens produce one egg a day