10 May Are we able to consume poultry ethically?
The Great Chicken Debate: Is the poultry we consume ethical and within basic health and safety regulations? An investigation on how (if at all) we can be more ethical consumers of chicken.
In recent years, social media has been flooded with videos exposing the “true” conditions in which fresh poultry that is sold for consumption is handled. Not only has social media exposed extreme health hazards but it has also brought to light some serious concerns regarding the treatment of the livestock itself which have raised questions such as: What is the real meaning of fair trade? Various videos online have surfaced on the internet showing how some farms and factories treat their livestock, such videos include the way livestock are kept as well as how they are slaughtered. I will cover the health concerns and treatment of livestock and use evidences and references I’ve gathered that may/may not prove accusations raised against these chains/farms. This investigation will also include a comparison between corporations and local businesses, what do each value respectively? Where do they source their poultry? Are local businesses and butchers more ethical? During this investigative report, I would have interviewed various organisations and local butchers to find out what is the most ethical way of consuming poultry.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) notorious for its criticism of the poultry industry have released many reports, investigations and exposes on the treatment of livestock. According to PETA, broiler chickens (chickens bred and raised for flesh) are the highest consumed meat in the UK and due to the high demand and the motivation to keep the costs low, poultry livestock is also most likely the most mistreated in the UK. There are many pressing concerns, a few of which are the over feeding of chickens so they become large and often end up immobile with broken legs and ultimately in pain.
Although PETA comes from the standpoint of “ANIMALS ARE NOT OURS TO EAT …” and are against the consumption of any animal, PETA’s findings are like the findings of Felicity Lawrence, journalist at The Guardian. The article titled “If consumers knew how farmed chickens were raised they might never eat meat again” entails the minimal animal welfare enforced by the British government on poultry farms and factories. Rather than abolishing practises that infringe animal rights, the government barely reformed them, one example Lawrence gives is a regulation concerning the caging of poultry, she explains “Farmers were no longer allowed to keep egg-laying hens in barren battery cages smaller than an A4 sheet of paper. Instead, the minimum requirement now is that hens are kept in a cage the size of a sheet of paper, with an extra postcard-sized bit of shared space that allows them to scratch and nest”. Regarding the safety regulations and the health concerns when thinking about the public consuming the poultry livestock, Lawrence explains that these poor condition, and mainly cramming the livestock in such confinement is what allows disease to spread rapidly. As well as this, the industry claims to have reduced the use of antibiotics in the feed since 2012, however poultry is the primary meat consumed by half the country, and a large 22% of this meat is derived from animals who have been fed antibiotics. The industry takes responsibility for this, Lawrence explains that “the concern is that that the overuse of drugs in animals has contributed to antibiotic resistance. Experts have warned that we are close to the point at which human medicine may find itself without effective life-saving drugs”.
Dan Saladino’s radio programme investigation on the poultry industry titled “Problems with Poultry” unravels the lack of health and safety regulations carried out within poultry farms/factories. On the radio investigation, it can be heard that “companies boast of strict hygiene policies but we’ve been told across the industry, the reality on the factory floor can be different…”. The programme went on to uncover that two thirds of the industry’s livestock were carrying campylobacter, a group of germs and/or bacteria that are prominent and often the cause of food poisoning, as of 2014, 280 000 people a year are affected by campylobacter, 100 of them end up dead because of the bacteria whilst others in large have long term affects, the existence of this bacteria is because of the sheer neglect of health and safety regulations within the poultry industry.
“Red Tractor” inspected and approved by Assured Food Standards (a British organisation that promotes/regulates food quality. It licenses the Red Tractor quality mark, a “product certification programme that comprises a few farm assurance schemes for food products, animal feed and fertilise”) is the supermarket favourite when it comes to certifications. When checking Tesco, Morrison’s, Aldi and Asda’s fresh whole chickens, all 4 bare the Red Tractor stamp. They also had on them the Fresh Class A poultry stamp, certified by DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom).
According to “Consuming Issues: What that tiny Red Tractor logo on meat means” an investigative report on The Independent lead by Martin Hickman, the scheme that’s been running for now more than ten years just about abides by British laws surrounding the welfare of livestock and is “nothing more than a British farming marketing tactic”. Red Tractor farms do their absolute best to deliver and maintain animal welfare within government regulations, however consumers would be mistaken if they were to believe that these are anywhere near good levels of animal welfare. Hickman explains “At Red Tractor farms, you can cram 38kg of chickens into a square metre, against 39kg by law – the equivalent to about 20 chickens per square metre. The RSPCA’s Freedom Foods and Soil Association organic schemes allow more space, respectively 30 and 21 to 30kg a square metre. Red Tractor allows the use of fast-growing chickens, such as the Ross 308, whose bodies swell too large for their legs, leaving some barely able to waddle “. These findings imply that Red Tractor promises very little on the welfare front and can only guarantee that their produce is British, which also further implies that animal welfare is not the priority of the supermarket chains previously mentioned that use the Red Tractor certification.
The poultry livestock we consume and purchase from our supermarkets, from these findings, are more likely to be unethical, given the infringements of health and safety as well as the dire environment the livestock are stored in and the mutilation of livestock, but can the same be said about livestock sourced by local butchers? I contacted two butchers, located across Essex, to enquire about the importance of animal welfare, health and safety regulations they undertake and what certifications hold the most value to them, as local business men.
The first butchers I contacted were “A. WilLsher & Son’s” located in Colchester, a business that’s been established for years, Allen Willsher, the owner of the business promises great service and premium quality at affordable prices. Allen Willsher expressed the importance of the DEFRA certification as this was a legal requirement for him as a butcher when it came to being able to sell to consumers, however refused to comment on Red Tractor certification all together. When asked questions concerning animal welfare, Willsher expressed that animal welfare was as important as customer service (which is gravely important to the business owner), he mentioned that customers express concern for the animal welfare and therefore to keep returning customers, he sourced his produce from farms (although refused to name the farms) that kept higher welfare (outdoor access gives chickens the opportunity to express natural behaviours like foraging, scratching, and perching in fresh air and natural sunlight. The following systems offer significantly higher welfare for meat chickens) a priority.
The second butchers I contacted was “FoodINC”, another butcher and/or business located in Colchester. FoodINC is a recently established business, specialising in halal meat. Whilst on their website they explain “We provide top quality livestock of any cut that you desire. Visit our onsite butchers to choose from our finest selections of fresh chicken, beef, lamb, mutton and see it being prepared to your direction!”, this is the information they had to offer, after contacting them I was able to get more detail. Tariq, an employee at FoodINC, when enquired about the sourcing of his produce couldn’t/didn’t want to answer. When asked further about animal welfare he explained that animal welfare was something they were very conscious of as a business and as people in general, he further explained that the service of halal meat they were offering was to be of a certain criterion, not just the criteria that fit the Fresh Class A label, certified by DEFRA.
Whilst the poultry we consume from supermarkets might not be the most ethical, we are not sure how ethical the poultry from the local butchers are either. Throughout my investigation, I contacted several butchers (as a consumer), none of which wanted to discuss at all the sourcing of their produce, the two of which I’ve included in this investigative report are the two that could give me somewhat additional information. One thing both scales of industry had in common was the marketing for locally sourced produce, this was of grave importance. In conclusion, the fact that both industries withdraw information on the sourcing of their produce is alarming. The welfare standards for animals are diabolical given the evidences and with no alternative to local butchers and supermarkets, consumers are left wondering where they should get their poultry from. However, to conclude, I would like to reiterate the point made by Allen Willsher of “A. Willsher & Son’s”, Allen expressed that the reason why a certain level of animal welfare was a priority was because customers were often expressing concern in this matter. This suggests that should the consumer express more concern and outrage at the condition of livestock in farms and factories, slowly but surely the UK, DEFRA and etc will enforce better animal welfare.
