{"id":3556,"date":"2022-05-18T12:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T12:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmforward1.wpengine.com\/?p=3556"},"modified":"2022-11-22T01:01:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T01:01:44","slug":"you-can-thank-this-chicken-industry-trade-group-for-big-poultrys-humanewashing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmforward.com\/news\/you-can-thank-this-chicken-industry-trade-group-for-big-poultrys-humanewashing\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can Thank This Chicken Industry Trade Group for Big Poultry’s Humanewashing"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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In response to the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u2019 recent\u00a0deep dive<\/a>\u00a0into the harmful realities of the modern poultry industry, Farm Forward\u2019s executive director, Andrew deCoriolis, penned a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0applauding the video series for \u201claying bare the nightmare that is the U.S. chicken industry.\u201d And in a historic first, the letter introduced the word \u201chumanewashing<\/a>\u201d to the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u2019\u00a0readers, spotlighting how, for years, the poultry industry has systematically exploited the goodwill of consumers with misleading labels and claims including \u201call natural\u201d and \u201chumanely raised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandwiched between Farm Forward\u2019s response and another thoughtful letter calling for change was a brief diatribe from the National Chicken Council (NCC)\u2014the largest trade association for the chicken industry and one of the most notorious humanewashers out there. The NCC complained that the\u00a0Times\u00a0<\/em>piece was merely propaganda intended to increase the price of chicken, offering the rebuttal: \u201cThe proper care of our chickens is not only an ethical obligation, but also makes good business sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is a rather stunning claim, given the NCC\u2019s track record of deceiving consumers: In 2017, it rolled out the \u201cChicken Guarantees,\u201d a set of industry-wide standards meant to assure consumers that meat chickens raised in the U.S. are not confined to cages and have not been given steroids or hormones. While likely true, these claims are deceptive:\u00a0cages are not used to raise chickens for meat in the U.S., and federal law prohibits administering steroids or hormones to chickens raised for meat.<\/strong>\u00a0The Chicken Guarantees add a bold check-mark to meat packaging offering consumers a false sense that standard practices have been certified as humane. This is akin to a hypothetical paint company stamping a \u201cverified lead-free\u201d label on its cans to paint them as somehow cleaner and greener, despite lead having been banned in paints since the 1970s.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the NCC\u2019s connection to One Health Certified (OHC)\u2014one of the most\u00a0egregiously misleading<\/a>\u00a0labels found on grocery shelves today. OHC trumpets a holistic set of standards, but in reality, the label can adorn poultry products that merely meet the standards established by NCC\u2014which are essentially\u00a0bottom-of-the-barrel practices<\/a>. And given that NCC’s members constitute 95 percent of all chicken produced in the United States, these practices are nearly universal. The mastermind behind OHC, Mountaire Farms\u2014whose CEO is the\u00a0current vice chairman<\/a>\u00a0of the NCC\u2014uses the label to obfuscate its abysmal environmental record, like its\u00a0recent $200 million settlement<\/a>\u00a0for polluting the water of thousands of Delaware residents. Further, Mountaire has faced\u00a0ongoing fines and violations for its abhorrent and dangerous working conditions.<\/a><\/p>\n

Not even Earth Day is off-limits for the NCC, which co-opted the holiday this year with a webpage and a slew of\u00a0infographics<\/a>\u00a0proclaiming that chicken is “climatarian diet-friendly.” Big Poultry’s myriad ills, from its enormous\u00a0water usage<\/a>\u00a0and pollution to its public health nightmares like\u00a0antibiotic misuse<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0pandemic potential<\/a>, were apparently not worth mentioning.<\/p>\n

The NCC\u2019s business isn\u2019t in sustainability or animal welfare; it\u2019s in marketing products to consumers who care about sustainability and animal welfare. So when NCC leaders assert that treating chickens humanely makes \u201cgood business sense,\u201d closer scrutiny reveals that what they mean is that making us\u00a0believe\u00a0<\/em>chickens were treated humanely makes good business sense. After all, poultry companies get to rake in the profits without changing factory farming practices.<\/p>\n

According to Farm Forward\u2019s\u00a0recent findings<\/a>, they have largely been successful in that endeavor. American consumers are widely confused about the true meaning of welfare labels; for example, 30 percent of Americans incorrectly believe that OHC indicates that the animal was raised continuously on pasture. The reality, however, is that today\u2019s certifications and marketing claims largely mask factory farmed products. Yet consumers expect otherwise\u201445 percent of Americans believe that OHC\u00a0should\u00a0<\/em>mean the animal was raised on pasture.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re working to unmask the deception and create a more transparent food system. Join the movement to end humanewashing by signing up for our newsletter below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n\n\n\t

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