News

Chick-fil-A's chicken suppliers accused of animal abuse

November 19, 2014

A new video recorded by Mercy for Animals appears to show rampant examples of animal abuse at a chicken factory farm in Mississippi and a poultry slaughterhouse in Tennessee. Both facilities are owned by Koch Foods, a supplier for Chick-fil-A.

The footage shows employees kicking chickens, scalding them in water, shackling them upside down and slicing their throats while still conscious and violently slamming them into transport crates. The video is available online: www.ChickfilaCruelty.com.

According to a news release, Mercy For Animals is calling on Chick-fil-A to implement animal welfare requirements for its suppliers, including:

• Shifting to slower-growing breeds to prevent obesity-related health problems in birds;
• Providing birds with more space, clean litter, access to natural light and environmental enrichments;
• Requiring suppliers to switch to less cruel controlled atmosphere killing systems using inert gas to render animals unconscious prior to unloading and slaughter.

MFA states that poultry make up more than 90 percent of animals killed for food each year in the US, yet they're excluded from the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.

"Chickens are literally tortured to death before ending up in Chick-fil-A restaurants. They are crowded into filthy sheds, thrown and kicked by workers, and have their throats slit while fully conscious at the slaughterhouse. This is sickening abuse no company with morals should support," MFA's president Nathan Runkle said in the release. "Chick-fil-A has not only the power, but also the ethical responsibility, to end the worst forms of cruelty to animals in its supply chain."