Organic Consumers Association, with Richman Law & Policy, Sue Foster Farms Over
Misleading "Five Freedoms" Chicken Welfare Claims
WASHINGTON, April 18,
2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Organic Consumers
Association and Richman Law & Policy filed a complaint
against Foster Farms on April 10,
2024, in the District of Columbia Superior Court. The
complaint alleges that Foster Farms, in violation of
the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act,
deceptively markets its chicken products with claims concerning
animal welfare.
Foster Farms says, "The chickens we raise
enjoy the five freedoms." The reality is that chickens under Foster
Farms' care regularly suffer discomfort, injury, pain, disease,
fear and distress their entire lives.
Foster Farms, the complaint alleges, misleads
consumers by claiming that, "The chickens we raise enjoy the five
freedoms." Organic Consumers Association challenges these freedoms
Foster Farms claims its chickens have:
Freedom from discomfort;
Freedom from injury, pain, or disease; and
Freedom from fear and distress.
In addition, Foster Farms' claims each of the chickens under its
care "has the space to roam and act like a chicken" and has "enough
room to run around, sit, scratch, roll around, scratch, and run
some more."
Despite these claims, multiple undercover investigations reveal
a pattern of inhumane treatment and intentional animal abuse at
Foster Farms facilities. The indoor space that Foster Farms
allocates to the chickens under its care is minimal—less than one
square foot per bird, or, about the size of a sheet of standard
printer paper—which does not give these chickens room to express
their natural behaviors. And, in addition to this extreme
confinement, Foster Farms does not provide sufficient outdoor
access or indoor enrichments necessary for these chickens to
forage, nest, peck or perch.
The reality is that chickens under Foster Farms' care regularly
suffer discomfort, injury, pain, disease, fear and distress their
entire lives.
These chickens are bred to grow unnaturally fast to proportions
that prevent their tiny legs from supporting their immense bodies,
making walking painful or impossible. They live out their short
lives packed into windowless sheds where they are constantly
covered with, and breathing in, their own waste. This causes a
variety of skin infections, including contact footpad dermatitis, a
painful condition where the chicken's skin becomes inflamed,
causing lesions and deep ulcers.
At slaughter, chickens are supposed to be rendered unconscious
typically by electrical stunning, before they are slaughtered with
a cut to the throat. They are supposed to be bled out and no longer
breathing by the time they are de-feathered in a scalding vat of
water. But, years of USDA inspection records show that it isn't
unusual for chickens in Foster Farms' slaughterhouses to miss the
stunning, and even the slaughtering, and enter the scalders alive,
fully conscious, and able to experience pain.
In 2018, Foster Farms was issued Noncompliance Reports for what
the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection service described as
"egregious, deliberate mistreatment of poultry" and an "ongoing
pattern of birds dying otherwise than slaughter." Birds entered
scalders alive, fully conscious, and aware. Others were trapped or
crushed as they moved through dump shoots towards slaughter.
Foster Farms advertises and markets its chicken with animal
welfare representations, which mislead reasonable D.C. consumers
into believing that the chickens "enjoy" freedom from injury, pain,
disease, fear, and distress, can express natural or instinctive
behaviors, and have "enough room to run around." In reality, Foster
Farms chickens spend their lives in conditions of extreme
confinement. They are farmed and killed using inhumane practices
that subject those chickens to injury, pain, disease, fear, and
distress.
Organic Consumers Association and Richman Law & Policy are fighting to end
this type of deceptive marketing directed at D.C. consumers.
Foster Farms' chicken is produced and sold throughout the
country including in Washington,
D.C.
To view the complaint, follow this link.
ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION
Organic Consumers Association is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3)
advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, and Finland, MN. OCA
addresses crucial issues around food safety, industrial
agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate
accountability, Fair Trade and environmental sustainability. OCA
reaches more than two million people each week via email and social
media.
ABOUT RICHMAN LAW &
POLICY
Richman Law & Policy is the
leading law firm representing consumers and nonprofit organizations
in legal advocacy challenging deceptive marketing claims regarding
the "greenwashing" and "humanewashing" of animal products. Using
consumer protection statutes and other legal tools, Richman Law & Policy has successfully
brought numerous actions against companies and operations that
deceive consumers about their alleged sustainability
and animal care practices.
Media Contact
Alexis Baden-Mayer, Organic
Consumers Association, 202-744-0853, alexis@organicconsumers.org,
https://organicconsumers.org
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SOURCE Organic Consumers Association