{"id":773858,"date":"2023-10-06T08:34:16","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T12:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=773858"},"modified":"2023-10-06T08:50:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T12:50:19","slug":"candid-camera-undercover-video-of-a-tyson-employee-reveals-free-range-chicken-is-meaningless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=773858","title":{"rendered":"CANDID CAMERA: Undercover video of a Tyson employee reveals ‘free-range’ chicken is meaningless"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t

The investigation\u2019s most revealing finding has nothing to do with the horrible conditions of the estimated 750,000 chickens at the facility. Instead, it is the secretly recorded conversation between the farm manager and a Tyson's 'broiler' technician advisor. In this recording, the technician freely acknowledged that the chicken industry\u2019s 'free-range' labels are essentially meaningless, a rare instance of an industry insider saying the quiet part out loud.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

KENNY TORRELLA:<\/strong> Last fall, an undercover investigator worked for two months at a Virginia farm outside Richmond that raises chickens on contract for Tyson Foods, America\u2019s largest chicken company. During their short stint on behalf of the Washington, DC-based animal rights group Animal Outlook, the investigator documented hours upon hours of the typical horrors found on chicken factory farms: tens of thousands of birds stuffed into dark warehouse-sized barns, many of them severely injured with gruesome lesions, injuries, and deformities. At more than one point, birds are deprived of feed or water, and there was also a rat infestation and footage of bugs crawling in the chickens\u2019 feed.<\/em><\/p>\n

The conditions are visibly at odds with Tyson\u2019s advertising claims that it treats animals humanely and raises \u201chappy\u201d and \u201chealthy\u201d chickens. <\/em>\u201cIt\u2019s just a living nightmare,\u201d the investigator, who requested anonymity due to the covert nature of undercover investigations, told Vox. \u201cA video just does not do it any justice”…<\/em><\/p>\n

Animal Outlook\u2019s investigator also documented bugs crawling in the chickens\u2019 feed, and rat infestations \u2014 problems echoed by the Tyson technician in the undercover video. <\/em>\u201cThe little baby chicks are gonna peck at those bugs, eat them, and then they\u2019re gonna die,\u201d Tyson\u2019s technician told the farm manager in a conversation recorded by the investigator. \u201cYou got rats in there, you got fresh rat activity in all your houses.\u201d Despite these known issues, Animal Outlook alleges Tyson delivered fresh chicks to the farm…<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite the horrific findings, they\u2019re not all that different from the conditions documented at other farms that raise chickens for Tyson and Tyson\u2019s competitors. But the investigation\u2019s most revealing finding had nothing to do with the conditions of the estimated 750,000 chickens raised annually at the Jetersville, Virginia, facility. Instead, it emerged from a surprisingly candid conversation the investigator secretly recorded between the farm manager and a Tyson Foods \u201cbroiler technician advisor,\u201d who worked with Tyson chicken farms in the area. In the video recording, the technician freely acknowledged that the chicken industry\u2019s \u201cfree-range\u201d labels were essentially meaningless \u2014 a rare instance of an industry insider saying the quiet part out loud…<\/em><\/p>\n

In the video, the technician also appears to make an allegation to the manager that Tyson doesn\u2019t feel the need to improve conditions at the facility because of a lack of competing chicken companies in the area. \u201cTyson doesn\u2019t want to pay for anything \u2014 not here, at least,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any competition here, so they don\u2019t have to do extra stuff here. They do extra stuff at other complexes where they got other producers”…<\/em><\/p>\n

Animal Outlook hoped criminal charges would be brought against Tyson, in addition to employees of the contract farm… Animal Control brought it to the Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney\u2019s office, which then forwarded the complaint to the Virginia Attorney General\u2019s office, according to Animal Outlook attorney Jareb Gleckel… <\/em>In August, after this story was initially published, the contract farm owner and manager were each charged with multiple counts of criminal animal cruelty under Virginia law. Neither Tyson nor any of its direct employees have been charged. <\/em>SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

RELATED VIDEOS:<\/strong><\/p>\n