Seven workers at a Tyson factory farm in Virginia were recently convicted of cruelty to animals after an undercover investigation revealed severe mistreatment of chickens. In a video, the workers could be seen throwing, punching...

In a unanimous opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision striking down California’s ban on foie gras. The production of foie gras requires gavage, the forceful and often violent overfeeding...

Tyson Foods recently announced a new welfare initiative for its chicken production. Slaughtering 1.8 billion chickens per year, Tyson is the largest poultry producer in the United States. Likely as a result of consumer interest...

Since October 2016, Vermont Packinghouse—a small slaughter facility in Springfield, Vermont—has received four suspensions and over a dozen noncompliance records documenting humane slaughter violations. The plant was issued the suspensions after committing several egregious violations...

According to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), between its peak in 2002 and the most recent survey in 2014, the use of the hormone recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) by the dairy...

Avian influenza (“bird flu”) returned to the United States in 2017, two years after the disease was responsible for the worst animal disease outbreak in US history, with the loss of 50 million chickens and...

The Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare (BBFAW) released a report in early 2017 that scored restaurants, producers, and grocery stores on their commitment to farm animal welfare. The report showed that there is increased...

In other corporate responsibility news, restaurants and producers are beginning to make commitments to improve the lives of chickens raised for meat (known to the industry as “broiler” chickens). For instance, Panera Bread, Chipotle, and...

At a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania last year, an employee made three attempts to render a pig unconscious with a rifle, with the animal vocalizing after each shot to the head. The plant did not have...

In 1996, animal scientist Dr. Temple Grandin conducted an audit of 24 federal slaughter plants for the US Department of Agriculture. She found that only 30 percent of the plants were able to effectively render...