Slow Clap Presents: Factory Chicken

Real Story.  Real Stupid

Factory Chickens Demand an Appetizer of Arsenic

I touched a little bit on factory chicken in Vital Farms Presents: The Incredible, Edible Egg.  That post was primarily to talk about hens and chickens that lay eggs.  Today we are going to touch more on the factory chicken topic as a whole.

The chicken you buy at the store is known as a broiler chicken.  Technically speaking the term "broiler" refers to any kind of chicken that is specifically raised for its meat.  Broiler chickens are usually your classic white feathered chicken with yellow feet.  

Factory broiler chickens are housed in large shed-type outbuildings that accommodate 20,000 birds.  They are fed a genetically modified corn and soy mixture that contains antibiotics and arsenic.  Arsenic is toxic to humans and can be fatal, but in chickens, it stimulates growth and gives their meat that distinct pinkish color that is sought after in the grocery store.  The terrible diet results in nutritionally deficient birds that are less healthy for human consumption.  

Broiler chickens grow 65% faster under the care of chicken growers than they would grow in nature.  A great deal of work has been put into making these chickens as fat as possible, in the shortest amount of time possible.  They grow so heavy, so fast, that their bones cannot support their unnatural weight.  Walking issues are common among broiler chickens with as many 30 percent not being able to walk at all, and as many as 80 percent suffering from some degree of gait abnormality.

Each year the U.S. slaughters 9 billion chickens for meat consumption, compared to 580 million in the 1950s.  Slaughter plants have become faster and more efficient to keep up with this demand, slaughtering at an impressive rate of 140 chickens per hour.  In the last 50 years, daily meat consumption has increased by 300 percent.  Today factory broiler chickens reach their slaughter weight between 38 and 42 days old.  They reportedly still "peep" at this tender age despite their grossly disproportionate adult appearance.  They are after all, still just chicks.  In the 1950s chickens reached their slaughter weigh no sooner than 63 days, by the 1990's they started reaching their slaughter weight at the current standard, on only half the feed.  

Companies are allowed to use meaningless terms to sell eggs and chicken meat.  Farm fresh, all natural, and hormone free mean absolutely nothing.  Factory chicken doesn't need extra hormones to get too fat to stand up. 

So why has factory chicken become this way?  Supply and demand by us, the consumers.  Every time we pick the cheap eggs or meat, we are perpetuating this unethical and  unhealthy practice.  If it doesn't bother you, keep buying the cheap eggs and meat.  If it does bother you, pay a little more for eggs and meat that came from healthy chickens that were treated humanely.

So what do the terms mean?  

"Conventional" is a meat chicken that never goes outside. It lives in the outbuildings that were described above.  A conventional egg chicken spends its life in a battery cage that is inside of a warehouse or outbuilding.  

"Vegetarian fed" is what most chickens are fed anyway, the GMO corn and soy feed.  Chickens are naturally omnivores and prefer a more diverse diet.  

"Cage-free" just means they are kept in a building where they are free to roam, meat chickens already live this way and the term is really just to get your attention and charge a little more.  Cage-free chickens never go outside, nor see the light of day.  

"Free range" are chickens that have access to the outdoors, or maybe a slab that they can venture out on.  It doesn't mean that they actually are allowed to go outside.  

"Organic" chickens are fed an organic diet that is free of pesticides.  They have outdoor access, but like the free range and cage free birds, they may not actually be able to go outside.  

"Pasture-raised" chickens are allowed to roam outdoors and have plenty of room to peck and stretch their wings.              

My two cents:  I like chicken, but not like this.  How much of this meat ends up in the trash?  I didn't even touch on everything that goes on with these poor animals.  It is an utter disgrace to mankind to treat any animal this way, it shouldn't matter if they are destined for your plate or not.

Rating:  I'm giving factory chicken five out of five possible slow claps.  Animal cruelty really pisses me off.