Foster Farms criticized by animal rights group over turkey treatment

Less than a week after Foster Farms suspended five employees for suspected abuse of chickens, another video has been released by a different animal rights group detailing how employees allegedly mistreated turkey chicks at a Foster Farms’ hatchery in Fresno.

The pro-vegan group Compassion Over Killing had an undercover investigator work at the hatchery for five weeks, from March to April of this year, said group director Erica Meier.

While working undercover, the investigator found that baby turkeys judged unfit were set aside and either ground up alive or were tossed into plastic bags and gassed to ensure suffocation. The investigator noted online that sometimes the birds were improperly gassed, and would still be alive, gasping and blinking, when left with other discarded birds in a freezer.

Newborn turkeys judged fit were shackled to a conveyor belt, where they had their toes and parts of their beaks burned off without pain relief, before they are shipped out to a factory farm.

The investigator routinely reported abuses to her supervisors with no visible response, said Meier. While much of what was documented is considered standard practice in the turkey industry, actions such as baby birds being left to suffocate was considered by the investigator to be “abnormal.”

Just because a practice is considered standard does not make it humane, Meier said.

CNN on Wednesday aired a video produced by Compassion Over Killing. The Center for Food Integrity’s Animal Care Review Panel released a statement responding to the video. The panel consisted of Dr. Patricia Hester from Purdue University, Dr. Charles Hofacre from University of Georgia and Dr. Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton from University of Arkansas.

The Foster Farms hatchery was following proper guidelines for humane treatment and euthanasia of turkey hatchlings, Hofacre said in the statement. Turkeys naturally peck at each other, so a painless infrared beak treatment removes its sharp tip.

And the means of euthanasia shown in the video are two of American Veterinary Medical Association’s approved methods, he added.

Hester said that “although euthanasia of hatchlings is never pleasant to experience,” putting down turkey hatchlings that are born infected or with genetic defects is necessary because “they cannot be treated, will not recover, and could be in pain or distress.”

Foster Farms representative Ira Brill said that CNN’s showing of the video was an example of incomplete reporting, as they did not note the group is pro-vegan and did not mention that the methods used are AVMA-approved.

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Foster Farms criticized by animal rights group over turkey treatment."