They Claim It’s Humane. A Whistleblower Says Farmer Focus Chicken Is Anything But.
What would you call it when a company reportedly mutilates, bruises, breaks, drowns, and decapitates chickens while the birds feel every second of it? Humane Farm Animal Care and the Global Animal Partnership stamp it “humane” “animal welfare certified.” Then, it’s marketed as such to consumers when it’s sold at stores like Kroger, Publix, Safeway, The Fresh Market, and Harris Teeter.
But a “shocked” whistleblower from Farmer Focus’s Virginia slaughterhouse tells a different story. Below, you’ll see what they say happened behind those “transparent” and “humane” claims. Take a look:
Whistleblower on the Line
Every week, Farmer Focus (formerly known as Shenandoah Valley Organic) kills an estimated 600,000 chickens and sells their bodies as “certified humane.” According to an inside source:
Due to rough handling during “catch and transport,” chickens’ wings and legs were bruised, broken, and dislocated at rates far beyond what the chicken industry considers “acceptable.” The birds are “slammed” and caught in cage trays during transport.
Chickens arrived at the slaughterhouse stressed, flapping, and struggling—some even jumped off the conveyor belt in an attempt to escape. Loud music playing in the “live hang” area further stressed the birds.
Workers allegedly “slammed” birds’ legs into shackles, hanging them upside down from a conveyor belt that carries them to eventual slaughter.
Allegations of a “Deficient” Slaughter Process:
Station 1: The Faulty Electric Stunning Bath
Once shackled, desperate, dangling birds are plunged into an electrified bath that’s supposed to knock them out instantly. But according to the whistleblower:
- The salt solutions (needed to conduct electricity) were poorly maintained.
- The conduction plates—metal bars that carry the electric charge—were worn out for months and only replaced before a scheduled audit.
- The stunning voltage was not properly managed.
- The bath was often overfilled, which shocked and distressed chickens but failed to stun them effectively.
- The overfilled bath even resulted in chickens being submerged to their shoulders, and panicked birds slowly drowned to death.
Station 2: The Kill Blade That Missed
Birds reportedly flailed as they approached the automatic kill blade, and instead of delivering a quick slash that caused rapid blood loss and death, the blade struck the necks, faces, and even the wings of panicking chickens.
Surviving Birds’ Final Stop: The “Head Puller”
Back-up employees are supposed to manually slice the throats of birds who survive the automatic blade. But, according to the whistleblower, the workers were not properly trained and failed to deliver a cut that would kill the birds quickly. In “many cases,” the whistleblower says, bleeding birds—still alert—arrived at the “head puller.” This machine ripped their heads from their bodies, finally ending their prolonged, horrific suffering.
Farmer Focus Reportedly Knows About All This—and Serious Issues on Its Contract Farms
The whistleblower told PETA the company “knowingly” overstocked massive sheds with chickens. They claim that Farmer Focus is also aware that some contract farmers deliberately startled birds, presumably for “exercise,” but it only served to stress them even more. The whistleblower said the stressed birds’ frantic flapping caused “prevalent and acute” rates of deep pectoral myopathy (green muscle disease), a painful ailment that causes their muscles to break down and causes their breast tissue to become green.
The Farmer Focus Slaughterhouse Is Reportedly Falling Apart
According to the whistleblower, the Farmer Focus facility itself was filthy and in disarray. The ceilings were reportedly buckling and leaking continuously. Leaks allegedly dripped onto the conveyor belts and chicken carcasses that would be packaged and sold to consumers.
The facility also apparently had severe, unaddressed rodent and termite infestations. Mice were regularly observed in production and storage areas, including this one who was allegedly found drowned in a container that holds as much as 2000 pounds of bulk meat.
The drains throughout the plant were reportedly routinely backed up and not cleaned, filling the Farmer Focus facility with a “horrific” odor that’s so invasive that it permeated coolers and caused off-odors in stored products. The “contaminated” water from these drains apparently spread across the slaughterhouse floor, and chicken carcasses that fell to the floor were allegedly allowed to be washed and sold.
Farmer Focus’ Transparency Is Apparently as Murky as Its Floors
In addition to the “humane” labels, one of the prime selling points of Farmer Focus chicken flesh is a “Farm ID” code on the package that claims to direct customers to the farm the (slaughtered) bird came from. According to the whistleblower, Farmer Focus “knowingly defraud[s]” consumers by “consistently and knowingly” placing the incorrect farm ID on its products.
Every year, slaughterhouses kill more than 9 billion chickens in the U.S. Most suffer through long, terror-filled journeys and agonizing deaths like these at Farmer Focus. Every animal is someone, and they all deserve better than the deceptive labels humane and welfare certifiers slap on the packaging of their broken bodies. Please, go vegan and urge the animal “protectors” sitting on Global Animal Partnership’s board of directors to step down immediately.