Foster Farms settles lawsuit with animal rights group over ‘cruel’ practices
Foster Poultry Farms has agreed to improve its water conservation practices and animal welfare as part of a settlement stemming from a lawsuit accusing it of using large amounts of water to kill its chickens.
The lawsuit, filed in Merced County Superior Court by Animal Legal Defense Fund in September 2020, also alleged Foster Poultry Farms violated California Constitution by using “vast” quantities of water from the “critically overdrafted” Merced Subbasin, a groundwater basin, at the height of a historic “megadrought.”
Foster Farms uses a practice known as electric immobilization to paralyze its chickens as part of its live-hang slaughter system, according to the lawsuit. After slaughter, the chickens are scalded in a process known as “water immersion scalding” for de-feathering. Then, chickens are chilled after slaughter in a process known as “water immersion chilling,” according to the lawsuit.
“Other common methods of slaughter use far less water and are less cruel,” ALDF said in a statement.
According to an April 21 press release, Foster Poultry Farms has agreed to continue to work to improve water conservation and animal welfare at its Livingston poultry-processing plant, which is the largest chicken poultry-processing plant on the West Coast.
The terms of the settlement are not public and Foster Farms denies the allegations.
“We are unable to provide any additional information about the settlement,” said an ALDF spokesperson.
“This settlement will increase water conservation in a critically overdrafted groundwater basin, which will benefit communities and wildlife in the region,” ALDF senior staff attorney Christine Ball-Blakely said in a press release. “It will also improve conditions for the many chickens slaughtered and processed in this plant each day.”
A Foster Farms spokesperson said in a statement that the company “has consistently asserted that the ALDF lawsuit is baseless and without merit, and the settlement agreement is consistent with the company’s existing responsible environmental and animal welfare practices.”
“Foster Farms continues to uphold its longstanding ‘Every Drop Counts’ water conservation policy and its steadfast commitment to animal welfare, which qualified third parties independently verify,” the spokesperson said.
The case had been scheduled to go to trial on April 29. The settlement was filed with the court April 10.
Recent changes to Foster Farms structure, operations
The poultry company, which has long been one of the largest private employers in the San Joaquin Valley, announced in June 2022 that it had been acquired by Connecticut-based private equity firm Atlas Holdings for an undisclosed price.
Foster Farms hired longtime poultry executive Jayson Penn as CEO in March 2024, according to industry trade publication WATTPoultry.
In January, Foster Farms announced 500-plus workers would be laid off effective May 9 following the closure of the company’s Turlock-based fresh turkey processing plant.
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
