And forcing changes legally
Actually, as much as I hate these veggie-loving, cow-hugging morons, they might not have a bad idea here.
Though I don't like the idea that they're able to control an industry they don't like, I can't fault them for how they're doing it.
PETA to Push Hormel on Humane Slaughter
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER
WASHINGTON (AP) - An animal rights group that owns stock in Hormel Foods Corp. is trying to pressure the nation's largest turkey processor to adopt a more humane method of slaughtering the birds.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Hormel to use a technique that ``puts the birds to sleep'' rather than the current method, in which turkeys are hung upside down and stunned in electrically charged water before their throats are slit.
HORMEL FOODS
NYSE:HRL
Updated: 16:01 ET
35.02 -0.23
YUM BRANDS
NYSE:YUM
Updated: 16:00 ET
49.18 +0.23
PETA has placed a shareholder resolution on the agenda for Hormel's Jan. 31 shareholders meeting.
The resolution calls on the Hormel board of directors to issue a report to shareholders by next July on the feasibility of controlled atmosphere killing, a process through which the birds are put to sleep with inert gases such as nitrogen or argon.
Hormel, based in Austin, Minn., says three of its four plants use a similar technique, controlled atmosphere stunning, that renders the turkeys unconscious prior to slaughter.
The company asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to omit the PETA resolution. The SEC denied that request on Nov. 10.
In its shareholder resolution, PETA claims that turkeys raised by Hormel subsidiary Jennie-O Turkey Store Inc. often suffer broken bones while being put into shackles, and some are fully conscious when their throats are slit. Others miss the neck cutters and are scalded alive in de-feathering tanks, PETA said.
Hormel denied those allegations in its SEC filing.
Bruce Friedrich, PETA's director of vegan campaigns, said his group offered to drop the resolution if Hormel would allow Temple Grandin, a livestock handling expert, to inspect the plants to certify they were using one of the gas techniques.
Hormel spokeswoman Julie Craven said the company has used Grandin's guidelines in its plants, ``but a group like PETA won't dictate who we bring in.''
Grandin, an associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University, said the gas technique should become the industry standard for slaughter.
``The biggest advantage is that you are eliminating handling and hanging live chickens on the line, which is stressful to birds,'' said Grandin.
PETA, based in Norfolk, Va., has submitted similar shareholder resolutions with companies such as Yum Brands Inc. (owner of KFC), McDonald's, Wendy's, Kroger, Applebee's and ConAgra. Friedrich said PETA has purchased $63,000 worth of stock in companies in an effort to force changes in how chickens and turkeys are slaughtered.
On Monday, the Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against the Agriculture Department, asking that chickens and turkeys be covered by the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. The USDA maintains that the 47-year-old law does not apply to poultry.
On the Net:
Hormel: http://www.hormel.com/
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: http://www.peta.org/
11/22/05 17:09
© Copyright The Associated Press.