Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 8/11/16


Tyson Foods is taking additional steps – including firing 10 people ¬– in the wake of viewing a video showing two workers at a contract farm mishandling birds, just days after the workers were fired and others were suspended.

The video released by the group Compassion Over Killing was sent to three county attorneys in Virginia last week, but had not been made available to Tyson until this week, the company said in an email to Meatingplace.

“I’m disgusted and outraged by what’s shown in this video. We do not tolerate animal abuse and have fired 10 people who were members of this crew. It was an obvious decision once we were finally able to review the video Tuesday afternoon,” Christine Daugherty, vice president of sustainable food production at Tyson, said in a statement. “The people shown in the video … were all trained in proper animal handling, yet chose to ignore it and failed to alert management about the despicable treatment on these farms.” 

Tyson is also “re-emphasizing the importance of proper animal handling” with everyone in its chicken operations who handles live birds and looking into possible criminal charges against the individuals involved as it consults with local authorities. The processor also has stopped the practice of beak modification used to prevent males from eating food intended for female birds at all of its locations and will hold a video conference with live production management at all of its poultry sites to prevent additional “inexcusable behavior,” the statement said.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.