Tyson Chicken

The complaints generally are about the company's ethics and practices. It's just not a good name to support.

Additionally, their chickens are raised with hormones and antibiotics, and are fed the chicken equivalant of Ol' Roy (or worse).

http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=301

Tyson Foods was rated as the 8th worst polluter on the Political Economy Research Institute's Toxic 100 index.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Tyson Foods claiming the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

The report says workers at the plants are frequently injured, then refused medical care or fired

EPA filed and enforcement action against Tyson Foods for operating its Manchester, NH meat processing plant in violation of the Clean Air Act

2004 Tyson was one of six poultry companies to pay a $7.3 million settlement fee ...over charges that the companies had created phosphorus pollution in creeks and streams that feed ...main drinking water sources

Tyson Foods pleaded guilty to 20 felony violations of the Clean Water Act

Seven workers were killed at Tyson facilities or facilities contracted by Tyson throughout 1999

Sierra Club filed a legal action ...which resulted in a 2005 settlement...company agreed to pay $ 500,000 ...and an undisclosed amount to three nearby residents for alleged air-quality damages

Tyson is involved in at least six lawsuits over allegations that it doesn't pay its workers for the time it takes to get ready for and after their shifts

2002 BusinessWeek named Tyson Foods as having one of the worst corporate boards

Tyson Foods is among the companies that together have paid millions of dollars to settle federal government allegations that they had violated U.S. trade embargoes against rogue nations

In September 2002 a jury awarded $3.5 million to two black Tyson's employees who claimed they were passed over for promotion because of their race

Additionally, their chickens are raised with hormones and antibiotics, and are fed the chicken equivalant of Ol' Roy (or worse).

 
 No argument here about their ethics, but I thought the use of hormones for raising chicken was banned by the government.

It is. Sorry [sm=blush.gif]

Guess I was confused because I hear the term 'hormone free' in regards to some chicken.

That's the same sort of advertising as when a food product (like peanut butter) is touted as *cholesterol free*. It is - but so is every brand of peanut butter.  It's just a way of making you think one brand of something is better than another.

Joyce

All those big name chicken producers are pretty much the same. Competition for market share is gigantic, the formulas of chicken feed to force growth as fast as possible with as little loss as possible - changes with every batch of hatchlings delivered (about every four to six weeks). The growers don't even know what they are feeding the chicks they are contracted to grow out. I think some of the processing plants are better than others in their hiring and safe working practices, but none of them are sterling examples of ethical employent. You could probably produce a similiar "rap sheet" to that referenced above, for any of the big names.

The only way to change it is to vote with your pocketbook. Support true family farm raised chicken (usually priced four times to ten times more than the big guys, so be warned!). Don't eat chicken at all. Eventually the chicken mega monster super producers will get a clue and institute a few changes or offer more humanely grown and safe chicken.

[This is where I twirl around and sing "Climb eeeeeevery mountain . . ."]

This is where I twirl around and sing "Climb eeeeeevery mountain . . ."]

 
"Edelweiss, edelweiss..."
Ha, I like that movie, too.
"Do, a deer, a female deer, ra, a golden drop of sun. Mi a name I call myself. Fa, a long, long way to run. So, a needle pulling thread. La, a note to follow so. Tee, I drink with jam and bread and that will bring us back to do, do, do, do. Do, a deer ...

Ya'll may remember I posted something not long ago about my hubby hauling a load of a chemical he called Miracale Grow and I thought he was hauling the plant food by that name,  but it was a chemical to be added to chicken feed to make them grow faster.
 
And Ron2, I LOVE the movie.  Saw it the first time in the summer of '66.  I had just turned 21, was waiting for our first son to arrive in a few months, living in the horrid city of Akron Ohio (no fun for country girl) and I took my  neighbor , who lived in in the other side of duplex  (and who didn't drive to see it).  She was 82 years old and my best friend.  We got together every afternoon for a cup of hot tea and i would furnish pie, cake, cookies, etc as she was on such a limited budget and couldn't afford anything extra.  She was a darling lady.