The Times reports today that two thirds of chicken meat in the UK is contaminated with the bacteria campylobacter, which causes 80 deaths per year. They report:-

A survey for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found that contamination in “home-produced” chickens was even higher, with 76 per cent of all samples of whole birds and chicken portions, including those farmed to free-range and organic standards, infected by campylobacter.

About 460,000 people a year suffer diarrhoea, cramps and abdominal pain caused by the bacteria, which can also be picked up from untreated water, unpasteurised milk and red meat. In the very young, the elderly and those suffering underlying medical conditions, campylobacter can be fatal.

An FSA spokesperson suggested that a vaccine for chickens would be the ideal solution. Another method of controlling the bacteria, which is used in New Zealand but banned in the European Union, is to soak chicken carcasses in chlorinated water before they reach the supermarkets. Sounds delicious. Perhaps the best way of avoiding the bacteria is to stop eating chicken?

Read the full story here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6863186.ece

Dick Bond, the CEO of the world’s largest meat producing company, Tyson, has revealed this week that he is leaving. Considering Tyson’s earnings fell by 68% to $86 million in the last fiscal year, it’s no wonder he decided to leave.  But perhaps there is a more straight forward reason for his sudden resignation. Bond is now 61 and if he eats as much meat as you’d expect the CEO of Tyson to, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a few health issues.

Tyson is not looking healthy either; increased feed prices have taken it’s toll on Tyson and other meat producing companies. It seems Bond still has some faith in the company though, he said “I have a lot of both my time and personal finances invested in Tyson Foods, so I wish the company all the best for future success”. I wonder how long he’ll give it until he moves his investments elsewhere.

Bond has made some unpopular decisions of late. The US Agriculture Department has forecast a chicken production reduction of 1.3% for 2009 and many chicken producers are reducing their production.  However, Tyson has been over producing chicken. Market analyst Timothy Ramey said “We were disturbed by the way Mr. Bond seemed unconcerned with his risky strategy of continuing to overproduce poultry”.

Tyson favour the industrialised farming of animals, especially chicken.  The chicken are fed a diet of soy and other grains, resulting in the destruction of the Amazonian rain forest as well as abuses human rights.  To produce such a damaging ‘product’ is immoral, and even more so if you are deliberately increasing production when you know the demand for it is decreasing.

It’s not a great week for Tyson. Also this week they were ordered to pay a fine of $500,000 after willfully violating worker safety regulations which resulted in the death of an employee.

Tyson are an unethical and unsustainable company, responsible for environmental destruction, animal cruelty and human rights abuses. They are the biggest meat producing company in the world, their products sold in fast food chains, restaurants and supermarkets. But we can stop them. If we don’t eat meat, they have no reason to exist.

New research from the University of Hawaii has revealed America’s fast food chain’s dependence on corn.

The researchers bouht 486 servings of hamburgers, fries and chicken sandwiches from McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s in 6 cities in the USA.

Testing in the lab revealed that 100% of the chicken and 93% of the beef came from animals fed on a corn-only diet. Only 12 burgers in the experiment came from cows who had not eaten a corn-only diet.

Friends of the Earth fear that as more corn is diverted to the production of biofuels, more farmers will turn to soy for animal feed. The emphasis continues to be on the impact of biofuels on food security whilst the unsustainable use of  corn and soy as animal feed continues to be ignored. Some people will find it near impossible to stop using their cars because of living in the countryside with poor public transport links or due to a job which involves travelling.  But we can all cut out animal products from our diet and make a significant difference that way.

Read full article in New Scientist.

Well, nearly… Supplier of KFC and the largest chicken producer in the US, Pilgrim’s Pride, have announced that high animal feed costs have resulted in significant losses in their fourth quarter.

Pilgrim’s Pride share price dropped by 38% earlier in the week but then plummetted another 40% - to prices lower than 2002. They are now attempting to negotiate new terms with their lenders - with the current credit crunch they’ll need a miracle to pull that off  (good luck with that then!!).

Pilgrim’s Pride chickens are fed on soy and corn. Yes, the very same soy that is the cause of rainforest destruction (just ask Greenpeace, who exposed KFC’s secret recipe of ‘of illegal deforestation, land clearing and slavery’ and renamed them Klearing Forest for Chickens).

This is a good example of how unsustainable business practices do not make good business sense. Cheap meat means cheap animal feed and intensive farming which means environmental destruction and human rights abuses and there’s a limit to how long this can go on until the resources run out and more funds are needed to repair the damage and keep the system going. Sustainable business practices, where resources are used efficiently and waste and emissions are reduced, results in lower costs and a far more viable future.

Morningstar equity analyst, Ann Gilpin, pointed out that the entire meat industry is suffering.  She said of Pilgrim’s Pride, Tyson and Smithfield Foods, “”if we liken this to a sickness, they’re all sick.”

Well, she got that right. They are all sick. Sick animals, sick people. I hope they are all closed down and replaced with sustainable, ethical and environmentally responsible businesses.

The world’s largest meat company, Tyson Foods, has reported a massive 92% fall in earnings. They earned $9 million in the 3 months ending June 30 2008, down from $111 million in the same quarter last year. Tyson said it paid $140 million more for grain during the quarter to feed its chickens compared to a year ago. Tyson’s beef unit, its largest unit, earned $3 million versus $36 million a year ago.

I hope they are not expecting anyone to feel sorry for them. Tyson is certainly a company our world would be much better without. Take a look at their website if you want a great example of corporate bullsh*t. ‘Tyson cares about the environment’ they say. Let’s think about that a minute. As the recent dramatic fall in profits show, this company relies upon huge amounts of soy to feed it’s animals, the very same soy that is destroying our rainforests and causing climate change. How dare they claim to care about the environment when they are instrumental in it’s destruction?

Even more laughbable is their claim that ‘the primary philanthropic focus for Tyson Foods is hunger relief. As of February, 2008, Tyson had donated more than 50 million pounds of Tyson products to hunger and disaster relief efforts since the year 2000′. So, they are sending their products to poverty stricken areas; areas such as Latin America perhaps where agribusiness has wiped out local farming and destroyed forests to make way for soy to feed Tyson’s chickens, causing the very same poverty and hunger Tyson would have us believe they aim to alleviate. Well, that’s real big of them.

On the bright side, this massive fall in profits is very positive for our planet, animals and people. Long may it continue.

Participants of a new study conducted by Bristol University preferred the taste of intensively farmed ‘battery’ chickens to organic ones. The researchers gave ten samples from 120 chickens which had been reared in various ways.

The result is absolutely no surprise. We love fat, that is why we have such a problem with obesity in this country, so of course we would prefer the taste of the much fattier battery chicken! These chickens cannot move and are fed high energy foods, so they are the chicken equivalent of a couch potato living off Big Macs and large fries. Fat and unhealthy. Yummy!

It’s also worth pointing out that Paul Warriss, who lead the study, is intricately involved with the meat industry.  He has produced many reports about welfare and best practice in rearing, transporting and slaughtering animals.  At first glance, it would look like he was actually concerned about the welfare of animals, but look a little deeper and it becomes obvious this is not true, his main concern is the relation between stress and the quality of the meat.

I’m sure the result of this study is music to the ears of the poultry industry who will be delighted to produce more of what the public apparently wants; disgustingly cheap chicken. Let’s hope there are people with enough sense and compassion to see that raising chickens under these conditions is cruel and eating it is about as unhealthy a meal you can get.

Researchers at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center are currently feeding gossypol, a cancer-fighting substance found in cotton, to chickens. The idea is that if they feed it to chickens and then we eat the chicken and eggs, we will then have the perfect cancer-fighting food. What absolute lunacy!

We all know that around two thirds of cancers are caused by life style choices - too much red meat, obesity, excessive alcohol, smoking and inactivity increase our risk of cancer. We also know that the foods that help us prevent and recover from cancer are fresh vegetables and fruit, especially those high in antioxidants and phytochemicals. More importantly, there are not any foods which originate from animals which are thought to contain ingredients which fight cancer; quite the contrary - red meat is strongly associated with cancers such as bowel and breast.

It is also important to remember that the vast majority of chickens are reared intensively which means they are fat, unhealthy birds full of antibiotics. To add gossypol to chicken feed and then promote the eggs and flesh of these sick birds as healthy and cancer-fighting would be nothing short of a disaster for our health.

It is not necessary to create the perfect cancer-fighting food. They already exist. What is needed is education, not research. This is seriously the craziest thing I have ever heard, it’s not April 1 is it?

Yet another meat recall in the US…

This time 286,320 pounds of fresh and frozen meat and poultry have been recalled after regulators found it might be contaminated with potentially fatal listeria germs. The company Gourmet Boutique, have been forced to recall products containing chicken, turkey, beef and pork.

They might want to amend the description of themselves on their website ‘Gourmet Boutique is a USDA approved manufacturer of high quality, preservative-free specialty foods and is the natural choice in offering your customers the absolute finest foods available’. Not quite accurate is it?