Too chicken to face the facts?
Cheap chicken is a great thing. People who eat meat eat a lot of it. Most have no idea how it is produced. A recent factory food dust-up in Britain revealed some facts that are shared by North American chicken farming practices as well, especially for cheap meat that feeds the fast food industry.
Next week, on Channel 4, the chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver will seek to show the ugly reality of cheap chicken and call on supermarkets to improve their conditions, and the public to choose free-range or organic birds.
About 855 million chickens are slaughtered for meat annually in the UK, but as well as being the most popular meat, chicken is the subject of most welfare concern. The majority of birds – about 95 per cent – are kept indoors, packed densely into vast sheds in what academics and campaigners say are clearly harmful conditions.
Research has found that 27 per cent of these standard chickens have significant or serious walking difficulties because their legs cannot support their abnormally large bodies genetically bred for meat.
Many also suffer burns to the legs because they are standing on sawdust soaked with urine that is only changed every six weeks.
One in 20 birds dies from sudden death syndrome, usually caused by respiratory or heart failure.
If you care about animal welfare and your own health, but you don’t want to stop eating meat, I recommend you read Fast Food Nation to get a sense of what is being done to both the animals you eat and your health.
Sometimes the facts are a drag. Better to meet them head-on.
