Tyson Investigating Chicken Abuse Allegations
PETA Claims Heflin Plant Employees Didn't Follow Company Procedure
Last updated Wednesday, May 25, 2005 10:11 PM CDT in Business
By Shea Van Hoy
The Morning News
Animal-abuse allegations and a graphic video produced by an animal-rights group prompted Tyson Foods Inc. to launch an internal investigation regarding the claims, the company said.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, on Wednesday issued a news release and started a Web site alleging employees at the Heflin, Ala., chicken processing plant "were ripping conscious chickens' heads off," among other abuse claims.
A PETA member got a job at the Heflin plant and videotaped the chicken slaughter process, the group said. The video, which Tyson called "carefully edited," shows the decapitations and what PETA said were bird mutilations caused by improperly working equipment.
"While the video appears to have been shot in our Heflin, Ala., plant, we don't know all of the circumstances involved," Tyson said in a news release. "That's why we've initiated our own internal review. To the extent this review determines any deficiencies in our procedures or practices, we will immediately undertake corrective action."
Tyson said the employee with PETA connections signed a document confirming he went through the company's animal-welfare training.
"It appears PETA's agent violated Tyson's animal-welfare policy by allowing some conscious birds to go into the scald tank (which uses hot water to remove feathers) for the sole purpose of videotaping what he should have been preventing," the company said.
PETA said in response its investigator had been "taught to rip the animals' heads off by a plant supervisor, for when there are too many who miss the neck slicer."
The group also said the man tried to slow the processing line but quit because the plant's policy allowed a certain number of birds to be scalded while conscious.
U.S. Department of Agriculture rules say a chicken must have stopped breathing before being placed in a scald tank, Stephen Cohen, spokesman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, told Bloomberg news service.
Cohen told Bloomberg he wasn't aware of mistreatment charges or violations at the Heflin plant and said USDA inspectors are there at all times.
PETA said on the Web site that chickens aren't protected under any federal animal welfare laws. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act omits chickens and turkeys, according to PETA.
Tyson said Dr. Kelley Pfalzgraf, a veterinarian who manages Tyson's Office of Animal Well-Being, trained under Dr. Temple Grandin, an animal-welfare expert quoted in PETA's release. The company said Grandin performed audits at a number of Tyson plants.
"If I had been doing a welfare audit, this plant would have FAILED," the release reads. Grandin denounced live chickens being allowed into the scalder.
Tyson said it conducts regular audits, allows third-party audits concerning the welfare of the animals it processes and trains workers on handling practices. It said it is inviting Grandin to join Pfalzgraf in reviewing operations at Heflin.
The company said workers can be disciplined or fired for not following procedures.
Tyson said it continues to research the use of a procedure PETA urged the poultry industry to adopt. It uses an inert gas to stun chickens before they are killed.
"Experts are divided over whether it is more humane," the company said.
Chickens arrive at the plant and are unloaded in a low-light room in order to help calm them, the company said of current practices.
The birds are then hung on moving shackles and within a few moments are rendered unconscious by a low-voltage electric shock. The neck of the unconscious bird then moves past an automatic knife, Tyson said.
PETA last year claimed Pilgrim's Pride Corp. abused animals. Pilgrim's Pride subsequently fired several chicken slaughterhouse workers caught on videotape. West Virginia officials decided not to file criminal charges.
PETA has an ongoing campaign seeking to convince KFC to insist its suppliers use controlled-atmosphere slaughter procedures.
Tyson said the new Web site and PETA's rhetoric "clearly focus on a vegetarian agenda."
Tyson shares (NYSE: TSN) closed Wednesday at $18.75, down 25 cents. In the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged from a $21.28 high to a $12.50 low.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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