meat is murder

Just for completeness sake here is the conclusion to the bird flu story of recent months that saw the ten of thousands of Bernard Matthews’ healthy birds prematurely killed. Though we all know that intensively farmed turkeys live appalling, short lives before death anyway. In this case they were at least able to highlight the dangers of intensive farming to human health.

Turkeys

Turkeys aren’t just for Christmas anymore - more than 20 million are killed and eaten throughout the year in the UK.

Intensive production

The majority of turkey production is intensive, with up to 25,000 birds kept in large windowless buildings similar to broiler chicken houses.

Consequences of intensification

Many of the same welfare problems associated with broiler chicken production are found in the turkey industry. Turkeys have been genetically selected for high meat yields and to fatten in as short a time as possible. They have a natural life span of approximately 10 years, yet they are slaughtered at between 12 - 26 weeks.

In this short period they may grow to nearly twice the size of their predecessors of only 25 years ago. As a consequence, their legs become unable to support the huge weight of their breast muscle or to sustain normal posture and limb movement.

Early mortality - 2.7 million annually

Unhealthy and overcrowded conditions mean that disease amongst commercial turkeys is widespread, resulting in approximately 2.7 million turkeys (or 7% of the total) dying in their sheds every year. Foot and leg deformities, heat stress and starvation caused by the inability of immature birds to find the feed and water troughs are commonplace. Ulcerated feet and hock burns are common - caused by continual contact with litter contaminated by urine and faeces.

Artificial insemination now the norm

The accelerated growth of modern turkeys mean that the males (stags) are now too broad-breasted and heavy (weighing as much as 60lbs) to reproduce naturally. Instead, artificial insemination (AI) is applied, whereby the birds are masturbated by hand and their semen inserted into the females via tubes and catheters. Government literature gives detailed instructions on the correct way to masturbate, or “milk” males.

Aggression and de-beaking

90% of turkeys are kept in near-darkness to discourage the aggression which becomes a problem when so many birds are crammed into a confined space. Debeaking of the sort used on battery hens is also commonly carried out in the first week of the birds’ short lives. Research suggests that turkeys suffer chronic pain for 2-6 weeks after de-beaking.

Loading and transportation of poultry

Battery hens, broiler chickens and turkeys endure the same fate at the end of their productive lives. All are subjected to the ordeal of catching, transportation and slaughter. Only the further processing is different: broilers become oven-ready birds for the table, whilst end-of-lay battery hens are made into lower grade poultry products such as pies, soups, chicken stock and baby foods.

The birds are typically grabbed by the feet and thrust into crates, or “modules”, before being loaded onto lorries. Many suffer additional injuries at this time and hundreds of chickens can die from a panic-induced crush each time the catching gang enters the shed.

Others die during the journey to the killing plants, often from heart attacks. Injuries and wounds account for the other fatalities. The most common injury is dislocation of the femur (the bone between the hip and the knee). This is almost certainly the result of rough handling by catching teams.

Slaughter

Poultry slaughter methods are highly mechanised and designed to maximise speed rather than to minimise suffering. Chickens are removed from their crates/modules and suspended upside down by their legs on metal shackles. The most common method is for a conveyer to take the birds’ heads through an electrically charged water bath, with the current designed to stun and leave them insensible to pain when their throats are cut.

They are killed by severing the main blood vessels in the neck. This is usually done with an automatic knife, with a slaughterman employed as a back-up to slit the throat manually of any birds missed by the machine. Once dead, the birds are immersed in a scalding tank to loosen the feathers before plucking.

Killed whilst fully conscious

There is considerable evidence that the slaughter process is inefficient. Inadequate stunning results in some birds going to the knife and even to the scalding tank alive and possibly fully conscious. Turkey slaughter has been extensively investigated by researchers at the Agricultural and Food Research Council (AFRC), Institute of Food Research, Langford, Bristol. Twenty six per cent of turkeys included in their survey received painful pre-stun shocks (i.e. accidental electric shocks) when birds’ wings touched the electrically charged waterbath before their heads did, or when the ramp leading to the bath became electrically live. Worst of all, studies indicated that nationally, every year, around 35,000 turkeys may be entering the scalding tank alive and perhaps conscious.

Deliberate cruelty

Evidence produced in court hearings indicate that deliberate cruelty is sometimes inflicted upon poultry in British slaughterhouses. For example, a 1993 industrial tribunal heard the case of a former employee at a poultry processing plant in Winchester in which ‘bagpiping’ was described. Slaughterhouse staff squeezed live birds in a game that involved squirting faeces over other employees.

Elsewhere, poultry catchers have told how some of their colleagues kicked, punched, tied up and force-fed chickens and turkeys to relieve the boredom and frustration of their work. (Here’s the Catch, Animal Aid 1994.)

‘Free range’ birds

The term “free range” suggests a handful of chickens or turkeys scratching around a yard. But modern free range units usually contain several thousand selectively-bred birds crammed together in each shed. Pop holes allow the inhabitants to exit and re-enter when the weather is suitable. But because of the special stresses associated with a system that pretends to be what it isn’t (the constantly shifting struggle amongst the birds for territory; their movement from heated interior to the bug-laden outside world and back again), the genetically enfeebled birds typically suffer high early mortality rates.

No charges faced by bird flu farm   [src of article]
 

The outbreak took place in February

The Bernard Matthews plant at the centre of a bird flu outbreak will not face prosecution, the Food Standards Agency has said.

An investigation concluded there was no evidence that food waste at the plant may have been stored inappropriately.

Avian flu was found at the site in Holton, Suffolk, on 3 February and 2,600 turkeys died of it - a further 159,000 birds were culled.

Bernard Matthews said it has “systems in place” to meet hygiene requirements.

Last month restrictions on the movement of poultry in the area were lifted.

The FSA said there was “no evidence” of any offences under the Animal By-Products Regulations 2005.

Thorough examination

In a statement, the FSA said: “We have carefully scrutinised and considered the evidence in this case and concluded there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.

“Accordingly, we have decided not to proceed to a prosecution in this case.”

The watchdog said its decision followed a thorough examination into possible problems with food waste storage at the plant.

Meanwhile, in a statement, Bernard Matthews said it has “always maintained that it has acted with the utmost integrity and cooperated fully with the relevant authorities”.

The firm said “the Food Standards Agency’s decision reinforces this”.

The statement went on: “We have systems in place to ensure we meet and in some cases exceed the measures imposed by Defra, the FSA and the Meat Hygiene Service.

This is an astonishing decision Chris Huhne Liberal Democrats

The FSA has been investigating Bernard Matthews on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

A spokeswoman for the government department said there are now no outstanding inquiries into the turkey firm which could lead to a prosecution.

Defra has said it expects its own scientific investigation into the bird flu outbreak to conclude after Easter.

The outbreak of the H5N1 flu strain at the Suffolk turkey plant prompted a cull of 159,000 birds.

An earlier Defra report, which was published in February, highlighted a number of failings at the turkey plant.

Inspectors saw gulls feeding on meat scraps which had been left in uncovered waste bins.

‘Relief’ and ‘vindication’

And polythene bags used for meat products were left in open bins.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne has described the decision not to prosecute as “astonishing”.

He said: “Given that the Defra-commissioned reports into the Bernard Matthews affair pointed clearly to breaches in the regulations, and that there was TV footage of wild birds feeding off open waste bins at the plant containing poultry meat, this is an astonishing decision.”

He said he would ask ministers to provide a full explanation of the decision not to prosecute after Parliament returned from the Easter recess.

Miles Hubbard, of the T&G union, who represented the Bernard Matthews workers throughout the outbreak, expressed “a mixture of relief, vindication and confidence” at the result.

He said there was “relief that the prosecution ‘cloud’ has been blown away and vindication as the T&G always maintained that the standards of biosecurity at Holton were sound”.