Who doesn't like chicken? We don't even think of where it comes from, what we are
really eating and what this poor creature has been through for finally ending up in our plate.
Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (PPC) opened its doors on October 2, 1946. According to
Canada's Private Sector Union the average Canadian consumes approximately 36.5 kilograms of chicken annually. As a result, the Pilgrim Pride Corporation meets consumer demands by practicing less than ideal farming conditions which affects not only the lives of the chickens but the environment as well. In turn, it indadvertedly affects your physical health.
Environmental Impacts
When we think about the animal itself, it doesn't seem as much as a problem, how would a little chicken pollute and destroy the
environment? In Texas, it has been calculated that for 1000 chickens there was a production of 81 cubic feet of waste annually. As we know, PPC doesn't only have 1000 chicken being produced every year so if we think about it, if they produce in average 7.1 billion pounds of chicken in a year this is an enormous number of animal waste which as a result we obtain a gigantic amount of
poultry litter. Usually this litter is used as fertilizer on farm fields so that they can produce more crops to feed even more chickens. However, even if this chicken manure is a great and cheap fertilizer it also causes problems, particularly with groundwater which has impacts on wildlife.
In
Texas it has been estimated that over 2.7 million pounds of waste was discharged in the rivers, lakes and streams which represents approximately 20% of the Texas water pollution. According to those data poultry industry such as PPC which is the larger chicken producer in
Mexico is also the largest water polluter of the country. Another area of concern is the very air that we breathe. The toxicity evaporating from the manure is causing humans to develop a disease called Histoplasmosis. This is a direct result from inhaling the microscopic spores of a fungus named
histoplasma which usually grows in poultry litter. This chronic disease affects the lungs and in some cases can be fatal to the victim's life.
You Are What You Eat!
If we look at the labels we are seeing in groceries, we can see that PPC tells its consumers that they are selling 100% natural chicken but what does this really mean? According to
Dr. Volpe (2007) natural meat producers may use antibiotics and still label their meat as 100% natural. These companies such as PPC don't use antibiotics only for chickens that got sick but also to prevent bacteria in the animal intestine. This means that all of their poultries gets to eat these antibiotics even if they don't need it.
Other evidence showed that
roxarsone, which is an organic arsenic compound is also being part of the equation. Research have found that over 70% of all chicken growers of the
United States used this arsenic compound. Studies have also proved that this toxic arsenic is so harmful to humans that it is one of the cause for developing cancers. So in the end what are we really eating? Studies also show that our increase in consumption of white meat since 1998 until 2010 have increased the amount of illness outbreaks, the amount of hospitalization as well as deaths. Specialist also have realized that the majority of supermarkets were selling white meat which contained salmonella or campylobacter which is a cause of food borne disease.
Bird's Eye View
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| Photo © J-A McArthur |
Animal freedom and rights is a constant issue in several industries including but not limited to chicken farming. And that is why the institution
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was started. This organization takes care of any company who abuses any
animal rights to any type of living creatures and sadly Pilgrim' Pride Corporation is a part of this shameful list. According to PETA's beliefs, Pilgrim's chicken are not only being mistreated but they aren't even considered animals any more by PPC. Instead, they are merely a product for PPC's meat machine.
The way the chickens are fed makes them grow so big at a so fast a rate that their poor little legs can't even handle the weight of their large breast which in some cases eventually breaks their legs. Many are also
packed into cages no bigger than the chicken and stored living one over the other while the rest of them are put in large enclosures without any place to move around. Since they cannot move, they hardly develop their heart that is also too small for their body volume and eventually they end up dying from a heart attack if they haven't been brought to the slaughter house.
Living conditions are worsened by the fact that these birds are stuck living in their own excrement which has an impact on their health primarily their lungs.
Making matters worse, PETA also has been able to prove that some chicken were also subjected to violence by the hands of humans entrusted with their care and processing. Some of the workers were caught cutting the chickens beaks off and twisting their heads off whilst others even sprayed tobacco into their eyes and mouths as well as spray paint in the chickens faces. Maybe '
'PRIDE'' in Pilgrim's Pride Corporation isn't really representative of what they really should be. The average
Canadian may not be willing to give up chicken as part of their diet. However, that doesn't mean that the average Canadian can't be conscious of what and from whom you are giving your money to. Remember, the choice is yours to support companies that show respect and consideration for the health and lives of not only the animals, but for the environment and our health as well.
References
Ananda, R. (2012). Georgia’s poultry CAFOs extreme case in cruelty, eco-hazards; but alternatives abound, Activist Post.ASPCA. (n.d.). Factory Farmed Chicken: Issues and Alternatives. ASPCA.org.Flynn, D. (2009). Man Claims Poultry Litter Caused Illness. FoodSafetyNews.comGermanos, A. (2014). Coalition Wages Legal Challenge To Idaho’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Law, Mint Press.Haugen, D. M. and Regan, T. (2007). Animal experimentation Opposing viewpoints: Animals have rights, Farmington Hills: Green Haven Press.
Metzger, L. (2010). Two Mega-Chicken Farms Responsible for 20% of Toxic Discharges to Texas Waterways, EnvironmentTexas.org Mullins, A. (2013). Why It’s More Important Than Ever to Stop Eating Chickens. PETA.Ronald, C. P. and Adamchack, W. R. (2008). Tomorrow's Table, Organic farming, genetics and the futureof food:Is GE food risky to eat, Oxford New York: Oxford University Press.
U. P. (n.d.). Poultry Litter Flummoxes Prideful Pilgrim. TheTrashBlog.comUFCW. (n.d.). By the Numbers: World Meat Production and Consumption. UFCW.caVolpe, A. M. (2007), What does “100% Natural” mean?, Dr.Volpe.comWenner, M. (2006), Food for Chickens, Poison for Man. ScienceLine.orgAbout The Author
Lee Ann Sévigny is presently studying at
Champlain College Lennoxville located in Quebec, Canada.
The Hidden Truth About Pilgrim's Pride Corporation was written as part of an assignment for Consumerism, Leisure and Popular Culture in the
Department of Humanities.
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