EINNEWS, November 30—What does “humanely raised” mean in chicken advertising? Does it mean raising birds in continuous dim light, depriving them of food and water during transport to a processing plant and hanging them upside down and shackled by their legs just before slaughter?
The Humane Society of the United States doesn’t think so, and has filed a class action lawsuit in New Jersey against Maryland-based Perdue Farms, the nation’s third largest poultry producer.
While the suit was brought against Perdue, it challenges the guidelines of the National Chicken Council, which Perdue says it follows in the raising and slaughter of its chickens. The suit alleging consumer fraud was brought on behalf of a New Jersey woman who purchased Perdue birds raised in Kentucky and labeled “purely all-natural” and “humanely raised.”
In a statement, Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel for the Humane Society said, “Companies like Perdue are exploiting the dramatic growth of consumer demand for improved animal welfare for their own profit. Rather than implementing humane reforms, Perdue has simply slapped ‘humanely raised’ stickers on its factory farmed products, hoping consumers won’t know the difference.”
Perdue issued a statement from its corporate headquarters in Salisbury saying that its farmers’ handling of their chickens exceeds industry standards, and that the Humane Society’s suit is based on “narrow, arbitrary standards” of humane treatment.
“Our chickens are raised cage-free on family farms in temperature-controlled housing with a continuous flow of fresh air, and they remain free to move about with constant access to food and water,” according to Luis A. Luna, Perdue’s vice president for corporate communications.
Lovvern said the Humane Society might seek to bring suit in other states with similar consumer fraud laws.
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