Tyson chicken

Kristhin
Kristhin Posts: 442 Member
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
Videos: Warning: May contain graphic images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5_jLlP-Yao

Former Tyson employee desribes abuse on Tyson's factory farm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOdEKz8MZMs&feature=related

Undercover investigation at Tyson. Workers urinate on chickens.

"The poultry giant will pay more than $5 million for bribing inspectors at a Mexican subsidiary.

By Anna Peraino

Federal prosecutors have filed a complaint against Tyson Foods for bribery. According to the filings, from 2004 to 2006, Tyson de Mexico, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, bribed two Mexican-state inspectors with more than $100,000 to ensure the plant’s chicken met health and safety laws. “As a result of the payments, Tyson Foods realized net profits of more than $880,000 from export sales from its Tyson de Mexico facilities in fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006,” according to the complaint. In 2009, Tyson slaughtered an average of 41.4 million chickens per week."

Tyson is one of the many companies who advertise their meat as wholesome, healthy, and free of hormones and antibiotics. Yet the have to bribe people to get their chicken to pass inspection. Like many "healthy" chicken companies, all they have to sell are lies.

"(NaturalNews) Tyson Foods, the world's largest meat processor and the second largest chicken producer in the United States, has admitted that it injects its chickens with antibiotics before they hatch, but labels them as raised without antibiotics anyway. In response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) told Tyson to stop using the antibiotic-free label. The company has sued over its right to keep using it.

The controversy over Tyson's antibiotic-free label began in summer 2007, when the company began a massive advertising campaign to tout its chicken as "raised without antibiotics." Already, Tyson has spent tens of millions of dollars this year to date in continuing this campaign.

Poultry farmers regularly treat chickens and other birds with antibiotics to prevent the development of intestinal infections that might reduce the weight (and profitability) of the birds. Yet scientists have become increasingly concerned that the routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture may accelerate the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could lead to a pandemic or other health crisis.

After Tyson began labeling its chicken antibiotic-free, the USDA warned the company that such labels were not truthful, because Tyson regularly treats its birds' feed with bacteria-killing ionophores. Tyson argued that ionophores are antimicrobials rather than antibiotics, but the USDA reiterated its policy that "ionophores are antibiotics."

Because ionophores are not used to treat human disease, however, the poultry company suggested a compromise, accepted by the USDA in December, whereby Tyson would use a label reading "raised without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans."

Tyson's competitors Perdue Farms Inc., Sanderson Farms Inc. and Foster Farms sued, under the banner of the Truthful Labeling Coalition. In May 2008, a federal judge ruled in their favor and told Tyson to stop using the label.

Not long after, on June 3, USDA inspectors discovered that in addition to using ionophores, Tyson was regularly injecting its chicken eggs with gentamicin, an antibiotic that has been used for more than 30 years in the United States to treat urinary tract and blood infections. The drug is also stockpiled by the federal government as a treatment for biological agents such as plague.

"In contrast to information presented by Tyson Foods Inc., [inspectors] found that they routinely used the antibiotic gentamicin to prevent illness and death in chicks, which raises public health concerns," said USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond.

"The use of this particular antibiotic was not disclosed to us," said USDA spokesperson Amanda Eamich.

The agency told Tyson that based on the new discovery, it would no longer consider the antibiotic-free label "truthful and accurate." It gave the company 15 days to remove the label from all its products, although that deadline was eventually extended to July 9.

But Tyson objected again, claiming that because the antibiotics are injected two to three days before the chickens hatched, the birds can truthfully be said to be "raised without antibiotics." USDA rules on how to label the raising of birds do not address anything that happens before the second day of life, the company said.

Tyson also defended the "in ovo" injection of antibiotics as standard industry practice.

"The vast majority of the industry does exactly the same thing," Tyson Vice President Archie Schaffer said.

But Hansen noted that it takes gentamicin several weeks to dissipate, so the drugs are still in the birds' bodies after they hatch.

"The labels were clearly false and misleading," he said.

Tyson agreed to voluntarily withdraw its "raised without antibiotics labels," citing "uncertainty and controversy over product labeling regulations." It then filed a lawsuit against the USDA, claiming that the agency had improperly changed the definition of "raised without antibiotics" to include the treatment of eggs.

Tyson is asking to have the regulation to be thrown out.

Sources for this story include: uk.reuters.com; www.msnbc.com; www.lancasterfarming.com. "

Replies

  • freerange
    freerange Posts: 1,722 Member
    Or you can pay 10$ each for a chicken. They are just birds, they don't really care.
  • spacecase76
    spacecase76 Posts: 673 Member
    This doesn't surprise me.

    I have not been impressed with any of the big food producers morals and ethics.

    Buy local.
  • guppygirl322
    guppygirl322 Posts: 408 Member
    Aaaaaand...THIS is why I don't eat animals. So gross.
  • rtmama
    rtmama Posts: 403 Member
    It's not just Tyson that has problems, it's all the big chicken/turkey companies, Perdue included.

    I would rather pay $10 for a chicken that wasn't tortured. I just eat less meat now and more plants!
  • shesnotthere
    shesnotthere Posts: 117
    Gross. You are what you eat.
  • destinyag
    destinyag Posts: 26
    They featured the abuse animals by Perdue and Tyson (and many other companies) in Food Inc. and since then I've never eaten anything they produce and my boyfriend went full vegetarian. It's horrifying what humans think they can do just because they're human and they are capable.
  • bbush18
    bbush18 Posts: 207 Member
    ugh...i know, it's disgusting...BUY LOCAL!!
  • Yes, watch the movie Food Inc.? Will totally change your attitude not only about food but the government. It's vile and disgusting and I have not purchased any products from Tyson, Perdue or Smithfield products. It is worth the extra expense for me so long as I am not giving these companies a dime and I am not putting my health at risk...
  • Kristhin
    Kristhin Posts: 442 Member
    I agree. I liked the movie Food Inc as well, I think it had some really useful information that probably a lot of people didn't know. Humane farming is so important not just for the welfare of the animals but for the health of humans as well--eating sick animals makes for sick human bodies.
    I'm proud to say I eat a 100% plant based diet! Everyone makes their own choices, and some of those choices include eating
    animal foods. I think no matter what we do or don't eat though, we can all keep ourselves educated as much as possible so
    that we can make the healthiest choices for ourselves, others, and the environment. We are the change that will eventually happen once these companies see we don't like their practices!
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