Foster Farms has already issued a news release saying what the
video portrays is unacceptable.
Foster Farms has been struggling to win back customers after
a massive recall of bacteria-tainted chicken products. The tainted meat made it
to market over a number of months.
Since then, Foster Farms has implemented many changes that
have reduced the incidence of harmful bacteria in its supply chain to the
lowest levels in the United States.
Its supply chain stretches from chicken farms to
retail-ready products.
But its welfare protocols have been found lacking, even
though it is an American Humane Certified business.
In
the video, workers are seen violently throwing birds on to the shackles,
ripping feathers from birds that were described as still being alive and
dumping chicks from bins on to the ground in was that allegedly harmed the
birds. The video also purports to show birds that were scalded alive, having
missed the kill blade.
Mercy
for Animals says the footage was taken between April and June at a Foster Farms
slaughterhouse in Fresno and the company's nearby farms.
Mercy
for Animals made Canadian headlines for footage shot at Canada’s largest dairy
farm, Chilliwack Cattle Co., in British Columbia, mainly showing cattle being prodded, beaten and kicked to get
them into a rotary milking parlour, and for footage at Hybrid Turkeys farms
near Kitchener.
Hybrid
Turkeys is facing criminal charges in a case that has been adjourned a number
of times by a court in Woodstock.
In a statement posted on its website, Foster Farms said, “We
have already begun a comprehensive investigation to determine the source and
location, including a fully cooperative effort with all appropriate
authorities. The behavior of the individuals in this video is inappropriate and
counter to our stringent animal welfare standards, procedures and policies.
Foster Farms employees receive annual training in animal
welfare policies and the proper handling of birds in their care. Any employee
willfully violating Foster Farms’ animal welfare policies and procedures is
subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.”
