Most of you reading this blog probably like eating various forms of chicken products – thank goodness! But, before you even get to enjoy that tasty morsel a lot has already gone into the processing of those birds.
So today, I want to talk a bit about how the birds meet their makers. Consumer interest in animal welfare is rising as are the demands for quality meat and poultry. For this reason, laws have been passed over the years to insure humane methods to dispatch the chickens.
The most widely used method works this way:
The live birds are hung upside down by their legs on an assembly line. They are then run through an electrically charged bath of water to immobilize them. This renders the birds insensible to pain before they get put down. This process was part of the “Humane Methods of Slaughter Act” put into place years ago. But to a growing number of consumers—this falls short of being truly humane. In Europe, they developed a method of actually putting the bird to sleep before it is ever hung on the assembly line. This is known as CAS (Controlled Atmosphere Stunning). This method is highly recommended by Temple Grandin—who’s basically the world expert in humane slaughter based on science. This process is by far the most humane way to dispatch the chickens. However, it’s very expensive compared to the traditional method. Even with that said, to those of us who are on the forefront of animal welfare—it’s worth it.
Now, let me take a moment to inform you that we don’t kill any birds here at Rogers Poultry. We buy them already cleaned and dressed. But, we do try to purchase as much of our poultry as we can from processors who use this technology. Unfortunately, there are very few processors in the U.S. that have this technology. One such processor that does however, is Pitman Family Farms – the producers of “Mary’s Chicken!” They have invested millions of dollars installing these CAS systems. So, all of the “Mary’s” chickens we distribute are—not only antibiotic free—-and air chilled (which I will address in my next blog) —but are also put down in this very advanced and humane system.
So, we at Rogers Poultry have partnered with Mary’s Chickens to bring you the most humanely processed bird in the United States—and it tastes good too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
George Saffarrans
CEO