Harrisonburg, Va. – Buyer beware: A meat industry insider is blowing the whistle, reporting cruelty and decrepit, unsanitary conditions at the chicken slaughter company Farmer Focus—a Virginia-based supplier whose products are deceptively labeled “Certified Humane” and marketed as “Animal Welfare Certified” and are sold as such to consumers for a premium at stores like Safeway, Publix, and The Fresh Market. The whistleblower reports that many chickens suffer from a painful disease triggered by stress that turns body tissue green, that their wings are frequently broken by rough handling, and that the facility itself is rotting in many places, has a collapsing roof, rusted pipes, and even black mold. Newly-obtained photos from the whistleblower are available here.
These allegations corroborate those of a previous whistleblower, including that the facility’s electrical “stunning baths” were mismanaged, causing the birds to suffer prolonged and painful deaths, and that live and dead mice were seen on the production floor.
In response, PETA is calling on Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society of the United States) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to step down from the board of the Global Animal Partnership—the group responsible for one of the sham “animal welfare” certifications touted by Farmer Focus, which dupes consumers into paying more for the same old cruelty.
Additional allegations from the new whistleblower report...
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