{"id":134849,"date":"2024-12-08T21:40:56","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T14:40:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=134849"},"modified":"2024-12-08T21:40:56","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T14:40:56","slug":"why-so-many-chickens-die-on-farms-and-never-enter-the-meat-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=134849","title":{"rendered":"Why so many chickens die on farms and never enter the meat supply"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"zephr-anchor\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">America\u2019s favorite animal to eat \u2014 the chicken \u2014 has also become its most expendable: In 2021, around 556 million chickens in the US died at hatcheries and on farms before reaching the slaughterhouse, their carcasses winding up in landfills, incinerators, compost heaps, or pet food. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">An additional 41 million never entered the food supply, either because they died during transport to the slaughterhouse or were slaughtered but deemed unsafe to eat due to a variety of reasons, including tumors, bruising, or infections. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">That\u2019s all according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/animalequality.org\/news\/chicken-mortality-report\/\">new analysis<\/a> released today by the international animal rights group Animal Equality. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">To put Animal Equality\u2019s findings into perspective, these 597 million chickens that are never consumed \u2014 6 percent of the 9.8 billion raised for meat every year in the US \u2014 are far greater than the combined number of turkeys, pigs, and cattle slaughtered for meat annually. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">So many chickens die prematurely on farms that one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wattagnet.com\/poultry-future\/article\/15534258\/innova-invests-in-poultry-mortality-recovery-robot-startup\">startup<\/a> even created a robot to scoop them up so farmworkers don\u2019t have to \u2014 it\u2019s built into the industry\u2019s business model. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">In 2021, the National Chicken Council, the industry\u2019s main trade group, reported a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalchickencouncil.org\/about-the-industry\/statistics\/u-s-broiler-performance\/\">5.3 percent<\/a> mortality rate, or the share of birds that die prematurely, but that analysis only included chickens that died on farms. Animal Equality\u2019s report provides a more comprehensive accounting, including for other deaths in the production chain, such as chickens that die after birth at the hatcheries where they\u2019re incubated and born, in transport to farms, and those that are slaughtered but don\u2019t enter the food supply. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--block-placement _80slsf2 _80slsf0 duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<div style=\"position:relative\">\n<div class=\"_1agbrixk\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div style=\"background-image:none\" class=\"duet--media--content-warning licp6k0\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--image-gallery-image _1j8uwx0 _1agbrixv\" id=\"dngyOmltYWdlOjM4OTc5Mw==\"><a href=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,4.5691906005222,100,90.861618798956\" data-pswp-height=\"696.0000000000001\" data-pswp-width=\"1044\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img alt=\"A chick is caught in machinery at a Foster Farms hatchery.\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"mvmjsc0\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=256 256w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=376 376w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=384 384w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=415 415w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=480 480w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=540 540w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=750 750w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=828 828w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=1080 1080w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=1200 1200w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=1440 1440w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=1920 1920w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=2400 2400w\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.31.12%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C4.5691906005222%2C100%2C90.861618798956&amp;w=2400\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup xkp0cg1 xptnl12\">A chick is caught in machinery at a Foster Farms hatchery.<\/figcaption><cite class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup xkp0cg1 xptnl11\">Animal Equality<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">\u201cThe industry knows that a significant portion \u2014 [nearly] 600 million animals \u2014 are going to die, and that still allows them to make a profit,\u201d said Sean Thomas, Animal Equality\u2019s international director of investigations. Across the group\u2019s undercover investigations of factory farms, Thomas said, \u201cwe don\u2019t see veterinary care for a single chicken that is sick, because that single chicken does not matter to the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">All these dead chickens constitute a form of hidden food waste that adds up to an unfathomable amount of suffering, as the birds <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepoultrysite.com\/articles\/mortality-patterns-associated-with-commercial-broiler-production\">perish<\/a> from what have become features of American poultry farming: painful diseases, heart attacks, dehydration, starvation, and rough handling. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Additionally, around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/webdocs\/publications\/43833\/43680_eib121.pdf?v=1488.4\">one-fifth<\/a> of poultry meat that does enter the US food supply is thrown away by grocers, restaurants, and consumers at home. When accounting for both waste in the production chain and waste at the consumer and retail levels, about one-quarter of chickens hatched \u2014 some 2.6 billion per year \u2014 are never consumed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">The problem appears to only be getting worse. Since the mid-20th century, the poultry industry has steadily reduced its on-farm mortality rate. But in the last decade, it\u2019s been on the rise, recently reaching levels not seen since the 1960s. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--block-placement _80slsf1 _80slsf0 duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<div style=\"position:relative\">\n<div class=\"_1agbrixi\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div style=\"background-image:none\" class=\"duet--media--content-warning licp6k0\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--image-gallery-image _1j8uwx0\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.105169\" id=\"dngyOmltYWdlOjM4OTc5NQ==\"><a href=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,0,100,100\" data-pswp-height=\"1122\" data-pswp-width=\"1240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img alt=\"A chart shows the share of farmed chickens that die from disease and injuries has been rising since 2013, reaching levels similar to that of the 1960s.\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"mvmjsc0\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=256 256w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=376 376w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=384 384w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=415 415w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=480 480w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=540 540w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=750 750w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=828 828w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1080 1080w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1200 1200w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1440 1440w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1920 1920w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2400 2400w\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/u3cF7-over-half-a-billion-chickens-die-on-us-farms-each-year-representing-a-hidden-form-of-food-waste.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2400\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">It\u2019s well understood what kills chickens on farms: infectious diseases and health problems that stem from how the birds are bred to grow too big and too fast. Over the last decade, producers have been breeding chickens to grow ever bigger, which could explain why more and more are dying on farms. Another likely cause of increasing mortality could be that chicken farms, under pressure from public health officials and advocates, have used fewer antibiotic drugs in recent years, because the poultry industry\u2019s use of these lifesaving drugs is a major driver of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/22922018\/antibiotic-resistance-epidemic-drug-resistant-infections\">antibiotics resistance crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Both of these problems can be addressed in a way that alleviates the animals\u2019 suffering and safeguards antibiotics used in human medicine. One of the country\u2019s largest chicken companies is showing how it can be done, but the question is whether the rest of the industry will follow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\"><strong>What\u2019s causing the spike in dead chickens on farms? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Around 1950, US farmers began feeding their chickens and other farmed animals antibiotics to make them grow faster and prevent disease. Rather than reserve them for cases when an animal gets sick, the drugs have been widely used prophylactically as a crutch to keep farmed animals alive in the unsanitary, overcrowded warehouses in which the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/24079424\/factory-farming-facts-meat-usda-agriculture-census\">vast majority<\/a> of them are raised, and where disease proliferates.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">By the early 2000s, about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S1369527400002411\">half of all antibiotics<\/a> ever produced globally had been fed to livestock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Over time, public health experts learned this practice had come back to bite us: Bacteria commonly found on farms, like Salmonella and E. coli, were mutating and becoming resistant to antibiotics, making the drugs less effective in treating humans. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Throughout the 20th century, numerous efforts aimed at the US Food and Drug Administration to restrict antibiotic use in food production failed in the face of pharmaceutical lobbying pressure and growing anti-regulatory sentiment. But after decades of pressure, US fast food restaurants and big chicken companies eventually took action, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/2023\/1\/8\/23542789\/big-meat-antibiotics-resistance-fda\">did the FDA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--block-placement _80slsf2 _80slsf0 duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--highlight _1agbrixk _1lbxzst0\">\n<div class=\"_1lbxzst3\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0 _1lbxzst6\"><strong>Have questions or comments on this newsletter?<\/strong> Email us at futureperfect@vox.com!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">In 2014, just 3 percent of chickens were raised without antibiotics; by 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2024\/05\/22\/what-happened-to-antibiotic-free-chicken\/\">more than half were<\/a>, and 90 percent of chickens were raised without antibiotics relevant in human medicine. It was a major public health win, but as the livestock industry was quick to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wattagnet.com\/broilers-turkeys\/diseases-health\/article\/15537515\/less-antibiotic-use-in-us-broilers-but-more-mortality\">point out<\/a>, it led to more chickens <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wattagnet.com\/broilers-turkeys\/diseases-health\/article\/15537515\/less-antibiotic-use-in-us-broilers-but-more-mortality\">dying<\/a> on farms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">As a result, Tyson Foods \u2014 the nation\u2019s largest poultry producer \u2014 and Chick-fil-A each <a href=\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2024\/05\/22\/what-happened-to-antibiotic-free-chicken\/\">rolled back<\/a> their \u201cno antibiotics ever\u201d pledges and reintroduced a class of antibiotics called ionophores, which aren\u2019t used in human medicine. Ionophores pose a lesser threat to human health, though <a href=\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2024\/05\/22\/what-happened-to-antibiotic-free-chicken\/\">some experts worry<\/a> they could still contribute to the growth of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">But the data suggests the chicken industry\u2019s move away from antibiotics isn\u2019t the only cause of its rising mortality rate: Even as antibiotic use remained stable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wattagnet.com\/broilers-turkeys\/diseases-health\/article\/15537515\/less-antibiotic-use-in-us-broilers-but-more-mortality\">from 2018 to 2023<\/a>, on-farm mortality rates continued to climb. Some of that could be attributed to disease outbreaks that impacted the industry during this period, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wattagnet.com\/broilers-turkeys\/ippe-news\/article\/15532799\/controlling-challenging-forms-of-infectious-bronchitis\">infectious bronchitis<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wattagnet.com\/broilers-turkeys\/diseases-health\/news\/15682877\/how-to-prevent-metapneumovirus-in-commercial-poultry\">Avian metapneumovirus<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.feednavigator.com\/Article\/2024\/02\/16\/Navigating-antibiotic-trends-in-US-broiler-sector\/\">necrotic enteritis<\/a>. But part of the problem could be what the meat industry has done to the chickens themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\"><strong>Chickens are getting too big to survive <\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">In the 1950s, poultry companies began breeding chickens to grow bigger and faster. Back then, it would take chickens 70 days to reach their \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalchickencouncil.org\/about-the-industry\/statistics\/u-s-broiler-performance\/\">market weight<\/a>\u201d of 3 pounds. Now, chickens reach 6.5 pounds in just 47 days; almost half the time for more than double the weight. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Among other traits, poultry companies selectively bred chickens to have bigger breasts, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thekitchn.com\/the-cost-of-chicken-a-ranking-of-chicken-cuts-from-least-to-most-expensive-243382\">most valuable part<\/a> of the bird. As a result, today\u2019s chickens are extremely top-heavy compared to chickens of the past. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--block-placement _80slsf1 _80slsf0 duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<div style=\"position:relative\">\n<div class=\"_1agbrixi\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div style=\"background-image:none\" class=\"duet--media--content-warning licp6k0\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--image-gallery-image _1j8uwx0 _1agbrixv\" id=\"dngyOmltYWdlOjM4OTc5Ng==\"><a href=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,0,100,100\" data-pswp-height=\"1280\" data-pswp-width=\"1920\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img alt=\"A USDA chart shows chickens raised for meat getting larger over the past 70 years, starting at 3 pounds in 1950 and growing to 6.5 pounds in 2023.\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"mvmjsc0\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=256 256w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=376 376w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=384 384w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=415 415w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=480 480w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=540 540w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=750 750w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=828 828w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1080 1080w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1200 1200w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1440 1440w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1920 1920w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2400 2400w\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Kenny_Vox_ChickenSize_.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2400\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup xkp0cg1 xptnl12\">Paige Vickers\/Vox<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Animal advocates say this transformation has turned the birds into \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/frankenchickens.com\/\">Frankenchickens<\/a>\u201d that are \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/the-unending-quest-to-build-a-better-chicken#:~:text=Due%20to%20underdeveloped%20immune%20systems,prisoners%20in%20their%20own%20bodies.%E2%80%9D\">prisoners in their own bodies<\/a>,\u201d which cause a number of health problems that lead to premature death. Many chickens\u2019 tiny legs can\u2019t support the weight of their giant breasts, leading to injuries that can be so severe that they struggle to walk to reach food and water, resulting in death by <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umd.edu\/resource\/leg-health-chickens-fs-1179\/\">dehydration or starvation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Between 2013 and 2023, when antibiotics use fell, chickens were bred to grow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalchickencouncil.org\/about-the-industry\/statistics\/u-s-broiler-performance\/\">10.5 percent bigger<\/a>, which could\u2019ve contributed to rising mortality rates. Fast-growing chickens \u201chave relatively high mortality rates as compared to slower growing strains (and systems with higher welfare requirements),\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wur.nl\/en\/persons\/ingrid-de-jong-1.htm\">Ingrid de Jong<\/a>, a senior researcher of poultry welfare at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, told me over email. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">It\u2019s unclear how much of a role this played in rising mortality over the last decade, however, because for many decades before, poultry companies had been making chickens grow bigger while reducing mortality rates. It could be that in recent years, these companies have hit a biological limit of sorts \u2014 a point at which making the birds grow bigger and bigger has made more of them die on the farm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Animal advocates want to see the poultry industry switch to <a href=\"https:\/\/civileats.com\/2019\/05\/28\/the-race-to-produce-a-slower-growing-chicken\/\">slower-growing chicken breeds<\/a>, which they argue would do more to reduce animal suffering than just about any other single change to the factory farm system. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\"><strong>Chicken companies don\u2019t need to decide between more dead birds and protecting antibiotics<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Big chicken producers might now be thinking that they need to choose between phasing out antibiotics to protect human health and keeping chicken mortality rates down. But the experience of Perdue Farms, America\u2019s fifth largest chicken producer, shows that would be a mistake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">The company isn\u2019t exactly a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=05h2hNi1S1g\">shining beacon<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/245790342\">animal<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/06\/13\/perdue-chicken-slaughterhouse-animal-cruelty-dxe\/\">welfare<\/a> \u2014 in most ways, its operations look much like any other factory farm \u2014 but it\u2019s taken steps to alleviate animal suffering that other major producers haven\u2019t, and remains committed to never using antibiotics even as its competitors have resumed using them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Perdue began to remove antibiotics from its production in 2002 and became antibiotic-free by 2016. Early in the process, its mortality rate was slightly above the industry average, but now the company\u2019s mortality rate tends to run \u201cabout half a percent to a percent better\u201d than the industry, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaap.info\/bruce-stewart-brown\">Bruce Stewart-Brown<\/a>, Perdue Farms\u2019 chief science officer, told me. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">The company got there in part by cleaning up its breeding operations and hatcheries: \u201cWe\u2019re not relying on this kind of antibiotic to clean up something that we could do ourselves.\u201d For instance, it works to get its breeding hens to lay their eggs in nests, rather than on the floor where there might be disease.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">The company also refined its vaccine regimen, and adjusted its chicken feed by adding probiotics and removing animal byproducts, which can irritate the birds\u2019 guts, among other changes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Across the chicken industry, a lot of birds die in their final week of life \u2014 which is under seven weeks \u2014 as the health problems that stem from fast growth catch up with them. To help mitigate this problem, Perdue sends its birds to the slaughterhouse when they\u2019re at a slightly lower weight than the industry average. \u201cThe last week gets harder when you have heavier birds,\u201d Stewart-Brown said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">The company is also conducting experiments with numerous slower-growing breeds. It\u2019s not going as far or fast as animal advocates want to see the company go, but it\u2019s more than what Perdue\u2019s competitors have done.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Many chicks also die in the beginning of their lives at hatcheries, where they can be roughly handled, culled due to injuries or deformities, or injured on the mechanical processing line. Many also die in transport from the hatchery to the farm, in which their fragile bodies are packed tightly into crates and don\u2019t receive food or water for 24 to 72 hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--block-placement _80slsf2 _80slsf0 duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<div style=\"position:relative\">\n<div class=\"_1agbrixk\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div style=\"background-image:none\" class=\"duet--media--content-warning licp6k0\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--image-gallery-image _1j8uwx0\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.788413\" id=\"dngyOmltYWdlOjM4OTgwMA==\"><a href=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0,0,100,100\" data-pswp-height=\"397\" data-pswp-width=\"710\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img alt=\"Chicks packed into crates.\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"mvmjsc0\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent;background-size:cover;background-position:50% 50%;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-image:url(&quot;data:image\/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg' %3E%3Cfilter id='b' color-interpolation-filters='sRGB'%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3CfeColorMatrix values='1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 100 -1' result='s'\/%3E%3CfeFlood x='0' y='0' width='100%25' height='100%25'\/%3E%3CfeComposite operator='out' in='s'\/%3E%3CfeComposite in2='SourceGraphic'\/%3E%3CfeGaussianBlur stdDeviation='20'\/%3E%3C\/filter%3E%3Cimage width='100%25' height='100%25' x='0' y='0' preserveAspectRatio='none' style='filter: url(%23b);' href='data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mN8+R8AAtcB6oaHtZcAAAAASUVORK5CYII='\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E&quot;)\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) 100vw, (max-width: 1023px) 50vw, 700px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=256 256w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=376 376w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=384 384w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=415 415w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=480 480w, 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https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1200 1200w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1440 1440w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=1920 1920w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2400 2400w\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-2024-12-04-at-5.36.18%E2%80%AFPM.png?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C100&amp;w=2400\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup xkp0cg1 xptnl12\">Chicks packed into crates.<\/figcaption><cite class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup xkp0cg1 xptnl11\">Animal Equality<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">There\u2019s a growing push in Europe for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovateanimalag.org\/on-farm-hatching-overview\">on-farm hatching<\/a>, which has shown to reduce mortality and the need for early-stage antibiotics. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Poultry production is the least regulated part of the meat industry, which isn\u2019t saying much, considering beef and pork production have also been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/2023\/8\/31\/23852325\/farming-myths-agricultural-exceptionalism-pollution-labor-animal-welfare-laws\">thoroughly deregulated<\/a>. But chickens have no federal laws protecting them at the hatchery, the farm, or the slaughterhouse. Setting meaningful regulations for animal welfare, farm hygiene, and antibiotics would go a long way toward reducing animal suffering and mortality on poultry farms. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1agbrixh lg8ac51 lg8ac50 xkp0cg0\">Absent that, the industry is left to engage in a never-ending game of optimization whack-a-mole, in which public health and animal welfare are almost always sacrificed on the altar of endless chicken wings and cheap meat. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"_1tzd3in0 _1agbrixx\">\n<p class=\"_1tzd3in1\">You\u2019ve read <!-- -->1<!-- --> article<!-- --> in the last month<\/p>\n<div class=\"_1tzd3in2\">\n<div class=\"_1tzd3in3\">\n<p class=\"_1tzd3in4\">Here at Vox, we&#8217;re unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you \u2014 threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"_1tzd3in4\">Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a<!-- --> <!-- -->Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"_1tzd3in4\">We rely on readers like you \u2014 join us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"_1tzd3in5\"><img alt=\"Swati Sharma\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"59\" height=\"69\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" srcset=\"\/_next\/image?url=%2Fstatic-assets%2Fheadshots%2Fswati.png&amp;w=64&amp;q=75 1x, \/_next\/image?url=%2Fstatic-assets%2Fheadshots%2Fswati.png&amp;w=128&amp;q=75 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/_next\/image?url=%2Fstatic-assets%2Fheadshots%2Fswati.png&amp;w=128&amp;q=75\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"_1tzd3in7\">\n<p class=\"_1tzd3in8\">Swati Sharma<\/p>\n<p class=\"_1tzd3in9\">Vox Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/future-perfect\/389639\/chicken-poultry-industry-mortality-death\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>America\u2019s favorite animal to eat \u2014 the chicken \u2014 has also become its most expendable: In 2021, around 556 million chickens in the US died at hatcheries and on farms &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=134849\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}