KFC’s Ugly Truth

KFC Corporation One of the world’s largest chicken restaurant chain Owns more than 5,200 restaurants in the United States and more than 15,000 units around the world

Other than its finger lickin’ good fried chicken, what is KFC famous for? ANIMAL CRUELTY

Fact 1: Overcrowded Environment Chickens are kept in overcrowded sheds where they can hardly move freely To prevent chicken from hurting each other and to save space, chicken beaks are cut off without administration of painkiller Poor litter quality causes painful ammonia burns on chickens

Fact 2: Improper Breeding Use of growth-promoting drugs and selective breeding to speed up growth rate As a result, chickens commonly suffer from acute and chronic health problems such as leg disorders and heart disease

Fact 3: Cruelty in Slaughter House Deprived of food, water, or shelter from extreme temperatures Hung upside down and transferred through conveyor belts to the slaughter room while fully conscious Throats are slit and are thrown into scalding-hot water for feather removal while they are still conscious

Fact 4: Cruel Workers Use chickens as a medium to vent anger and to alleviate boredom Examples of inhumane actions include ripping off a chicken’s head, spitting tobacco juice into chicken’s mouths, plucking feathers, suffocating chickens with latex glove, and squeezing chickens so hard that the birds expelled feces

Background of Ethical Issue KFC faced accusation from non-government organizations such as PETA and Greenpeace regarding unethical practices from KFC’s supply chain such as Pilgrim’s Pride and Cargill. PETA: Accused KFC of ill-treatment towards it chicken. Greenpeace: Accused KFC for its role in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. However, in United States, there is no legal requirement that chicken be made unconscious before they are slaughtered.

PETA Perspective Overcrowded Farm Environment The injured chicken received no treatment and had to bear the pain throughout their life. 2) Improper Breeding Genetically modified feed caused the birds to suffer from ailments such as extreme obesity and fatty livers and kidneys, heart attacks and other health problems.

3) Cruelty in the slaughterhouse Too many chickens are dumped from the crates to the fast moving conveyor belt that caused the birds at the bottom to get suffocated. Unable to manage large inflow of chickens, the workers threw away some chickens slamming them to the walls or floors.

4) Frustrated Workers Due to poor wages and working conditions, employees used the chickens as a means to vent frustration and alleviate boredom.

Greenpeace Perspective According to Greenpeace, KFC is fuelling the destruction of Amazon by selling cheap chickens fen on soya grown on deforested land. Greenpeace investigation traced that large area of rainforest has been destroyed by direct sales of cheap soya via Cargill by KFC, in order to sell billions of chickens to its customers every year, at a low cost. The demand of soya fed for its chicken by KFC to Cargill has led to unethical activity, which is affecting the global climate.

Defending the case from KFC’s Perspective With response to carious protest made by various organization, KFC counterclaim the claims made by PETA and state that those claims are false, misleading and inaccurate. From KFC’s perspective, the claims are not valid and their explanation are written as below:

“KFC is well committed to serve its customer with famous fried chicken that is being well treated in their factory farm. KFC is highly aware of their responsibilities through Animal Welfare guidelines and they claim to be assured that these guidelines are practiced, in every supplier’s farm. KFC adds “We buy chickens from the same trusted brands that consumer buy from the local supermarkets and that other restaurants purchase from”. KFC explains that they do not operate any factory farm; rather they get their raw materials i.e. chickens from suppliers that fully follow the guidelines of Animal Welfare Program developed by five members of KFC. They also guarantee that those workers who express disrespect against chickens and violate the guidelines are bound to undergo certain action taken by the suppliers.”

Pilgrim’s Pride’s Actions Fired 11 employees, who were highly involved going against the guidelines of Animal Welfare program. Placed cameras in farm factory. Provides special training to its manager to follow and promote sound animal welfare handling.

KFC’s Actions Has certain regulation that checks how chickens are breed in supplier’s farm. Made its suppliers to have special design poultry housing that is engineered with birds comfort and health in mind. Claims that their suppliers don’t use growth hormones drugs on poultry. Their suppliers work with primary breeders who provide poultry specifically selected with health and well being in mind.

KFC’s Actions (cont.) Ensure proper care of chickens that are meant for consumption. Extreme care is taken to ensure the health and safety of birds during handling and transportation process. With response to high protest of PETA and other animal rights group, to adopt Controlled Atmosphere Stunning (CAS), KFC claims that they have practiced CAS, and they do fund research for electrical stunning and other methods of slaughter.

Suggestions Adopt the “Animal Care Standards” program. This would lower the amount of ammonia in the air in factory farms, improve the living spaces and lighting in chicken sheds, prohibit the intentional starving of breeding birds, and ensure that birds are provided with mental and physical stimulation. Switch to controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK). This would prevent live birds in slaughterhouses from being abused by workers, having their throats slit, or being scalded while they were still conscious. CAK would also improve conditions for workers and decrease contamination levels in chickens’ flesh. Switch to mechanized chicken gathering. This would drastically reduce the number of broken bones and painful bruising that birds endure when factory-farm workers carelessly throw them into transport crates.

Suggestions (cont.) Breed for health rather than rapid growth, and stop feeding drugs to chickens. This would reduce the rate at which birds suffer painful, crippling diseases and injuries, such as broken legs, heart attacks, and lung failures. Make all welfare standards transparent and verifiable. This would simply ensure that the animal welfare program is being adhered to through announced and unannounced independent audits (the results of which must be made available to the public through KFC’s Web site).

References “About Us”. KFC. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://www.kfc.com/about/> “Why KFC?”. Kentucky Fried Cruelty. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/w- whykfc.asp> “Animal Rights”. Go Vegetarian. Drexel University. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~soa29/Animal %20Rights.htm>

References (cont.) “A COK Report: Animal Suffering in the Broiler Industry”. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://chickenindustry.com/cfi/broilerindustryrep ort/>. “Eyewitness Testimony from PETA's Investigation into a Pilgrim's Pride's Chicken Slaughterhouse”. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/pdfs/pp_ey ewitness.pdf>. “KFC exposed for trashing the Amazon rainforest for buckets of chicken”. International, Greenpeace. Web. 9 February 2012. <http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/pres s/releases/kfc-exposed-for-trashing-the-a/>.