NEWS: Inspections at hundreds of poultry slaughterhouses across the US in 2021 revealed widespread violations of animal welfare regulations, according to official figures released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Between April and September 2021, the USDA inspected 300 of 320 poultry slaughterhouses across the US, including ones owned by Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Sanderson Farms, Perdue Foods and Koch Farms. There were 181 breaches, indicating that abuse of chickens is rife at the point of slaughter.

In 68 instances, chickens were found to be boiled alive. After birds are shackled by their legs, put through an electrified stun bath, and have their throats cut, they are dipped in scalding water to help with taking off their feathers. According to the Humane League, “Chickens need only lift their head at the “wrong” time and they will miss the stun bath—doomed to be slaughtered while awake and sensitive to pain. Millions of birds who are poorly stunned have their throats cut while fully conscious. And if they pull back from the blade that’s meant to cut their throats, they will die, instead, in a scalding tank.” 

In 50 more violations, live birds were found among dead ones, indicating they had remained alive during the slaughter process. In 33 instances, at least one chicken arrived at the slaughterhouse already dead.

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Normally, we only hear about breaches like this when they are exposed by undercover footage from animal advocates. In this case, the information was given up by the USDA only after it was sued by the Animal Welfare Institute and Farm Sanctuary under the Freedom of Information Act filed in 2018. When the USDA agreed in January this year to publish slaughterhouse records online, Emily von Klemperer, general counsel for Farm Sanctuary described it as “a huge victory,” adding that, “These records routinely expose inhumane treatment of animals at slaughter facilities and are critical to our efforts to educate the public and hold the agency accountable to enforce what minimal legal protections farm animals have.”

Slaughterhouses in the US must be approved and inspected by the USDA. The new data indicates that it does at least carry out inspections and issue citations for breaches, but it also approves things like faster line speeds at slaughterhouses, which make the chance of animal welfare violations and injury and illness of workers more likely.

Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.

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