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Urge Congress to stand up to the chicken industry
Dear Animal Advocates,
Imagine 175 live chickens whizzing by every 60 seconds. Hung upside down, they move so fast that inspectors hardly have time to check them over. Some are injured as they’re shoved into shackles. Some have open wounds from their poor living conditions. Almost all are covered in bacteria that can make people seriously ill.
If the chicken industry has its way, a new USDA rule will speed up chicken processing lines by up to 25%. This is a substantial increase that could have a devastating impact on chicken welfare and increase the threat of bacteria-ridden fecal matter going unnoticed—and even more absurdly, the new regulations would push chicken processing lines to record speeds while reducing the number of USDA inspectors!
There is still time to stop this rule from taking effect, but we don’t have much time to make our voices heard. On March 11, members of the National Chicken Council will be visiting Capitol Hill and lobbying Congress for support for their agenda. Please tell your members of Congress that you’re counting on them to listen to their constituents, not Big Chicken.
Speeding up the line means more birds will suffer breaks and fractures as they’re roughly shoved into metal shackles. It will be nearly impossible to ensure all birds are killed before entering the scalding tank, meaning hundreds of thousands of birds could be boiled alive.
This change is bad for people, too. Speeding up processing lines could increase contamination, leading to the spread of deadly, antibiotic-resistant bacteria like Salmonella and Campylobacter (already the leading causes of foodborne illness in the U.S.).
Instead of giving in to pressure from an industry looking to increase profits at the expense of chickens, our elected officials need to see that people across the country are counting on them to stand up for animal welfare and for human health. Chickens and consumers deserve better than these dangerous regulations.
Thank you for speaking up at this critical time. Together we can make sure USDA does what’s right for chickens, and for us.
Visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center to take action now »
