Koch Foods: Chick-Fil-A Supplier Accused Of Animal Abuse
An animal rights group has accused Chick-fil-A supplier Koch Foods of animal abuse, after workers for the company were filmed kicking, tossing, and burning chickens alive.
According to the Daily Mail, the group Mercy for Animals released the footage, which it claims was captured undercover at a Tennessee slaughterhouse operated by Chick-fil-A supplier Koch Foods.
Employees with a farm contracted by Koch Foods are depicted in the video throwing chickens violently into cages by their legs and necks. The video shows chickens shackled upside down from a conveyer and dragged through an electrified vat of water to stun them, before they are pulled across a blade that slits their throats while they are still conscious. The chickens are then doused in scalding water that burns them alive, the video claims, while some of them are still breathing.
[Warning: The video contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing]
According to the Tennessean, Koch Foods assailed the video as inaccurate and out of context. Koch Foods CEO Joe Grendys released a statement defending the company’s practices.
“The chicken processing business is a highly regulated industry with well-established industry processing procedures, and our company works hard every day to ensure our employees and contractors follow strict regulations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”
Chick-fil-A also released a statement, affirming the company’s commitment to humane practices.
Animal rights group says it has video of chicken abuse at Koch Foods locations. http://t.co/hfrQkLSJ7I pic.twitter.com/EFEELJXc18
— Whitney Dawn Carlson (@whitneydawn) November 20, 2014
Matt Rice, Mercy for Animals director of investigations, allowed that the recorded acts didn’t violate any state or federal laws, though he hopes that the video will help encourage more humane practices.
Top Story: Animal Rights Group Claims Abuse By Koch Foods, Chick-Fil-A – More: http://t.co/Eab05HEpea pic.twitter.com/wD8F55vp1d — CBS Chicago (@cbschicago) November 20, 2014
The video is introduced by Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons and an animal rights campaigner. As the Inquisitr has previously noted, Simon is fighting terminal colon cancer, and has devoted his time and assets to aiding a variety of charities, several of which focus on animal rights.
“Disgusting cruelty is standard practice at Chick-fil-A suppliers nationwide. But it doesn’t have to be this way,” Simon asserts in the video. “Tell Chick-fil-A to end it’s disgusting treatment of chickens by adopting stronger animal welfare standard to prevent the cruelty you have just witnessed.”
Rice claims to have recorded phone calls that prove the companies were operating together when the video was recorded, though both Chick-fil-A and Koch Foods assert that they ended their working relationship last year.
[Image: YouTube/mercyforanimals via the Daily Mail]
