Brits warned to not take US meat at any costs

[Stevicus]

Brits warned 'do not take US meat at any cost' as poultry farm horror exposed

Two former US Government food inspectors today tell of the conditions inside America’s poultry processing plants, revealing the horrific effect the chemicals used had on their health and warning Britain: “Do not take our meat at any cost.”

Mother and daughter Sherry Medina, 57, and Karla Hadley, 37, tell of the “debilitating” effect chlorinated water used to wash the chickens had on them, but claim the use of peracetic acid as a cleanser was far more dangerous.

Sherry became so ill through her exposure to it, she almost died twice.

At one point her family were so certain they would lose her, they planned her funeral, choosing her burial plot and having her headstone made.

Karla has been left with chronic respiratory problems and suffered facial sores.

She blames the drugs that were used to treat her for the death of her unborn daughter, eight months into the pregnancy, eight years ago.

Sherry, who needs a cocktail of oxygen and drugs to stay alive, says of the chicken plants: “The chemicals they use are debilitating.

The conditions in these chicken processing plants are horrific.

Peers would do well to read of the shocking practices Sherry and Karla claim they witnessed in their 26 years in US poultry plants before the Lords discusses the Agriculture Bill today.

The Commons last week struck down a Lords amendment to the Bill to force a post-Brexit US trade deal to meet UK animal welfare and food safety rules.

Pressure is piling on the UK to accept chlorine-washed chicken from the US or face possible retaliatory action, such as a ban on Scottish salmon imports.

Sherry and Karla say accepting chlorine-washed chicken will come at a price, talking in detail of the “unacceptable wholesale” use of chemicals they say made them gravely ill with life-long conditions, and left chicken unsafe to eat.

Former colleagues have told them conditions in the plants have only got worse, with increasing speeds in production lines placing even more reliance on the chemicals.

The former plant workers say that the chicken is not fit for human consumption. Plant workers are also at risk from exposure to the chemicals they use on the birds.

His family blamed exposure to the chemicals used on the birds, and his death triggered a US Government investigation that raised questions about the health risks associated with a rise in the use of the toxic, bacteria-killing chemicals.

Sherry and Karla say that every week they witnessed thousands of chickens passing into the food chain that were “not fit for human consumption”.

Despite their protests, they claim plant bosses pressured staff to overlook such issues, often refusing to stop the processing lines when asked to do so.

More than 140 birds a minute currently pass through a factory’s “evisceration line”, with inspectors tasked to oversee every chicken.

Sherry, who was forced into early retirement because of the chronic health conditions she developed, says: “I would physically touch and inspect every third bird.

At 140 birds per minute, they have less than a second to inspect each bird.

“When you grab a bird, and you go into the cavity, you flip up the fat. When I saw faecal matter, a burst gall bladder or other bacteria, I would order it be removed to be rewashed.

“They physically should take the bird off the line and cut out the dirt, so it was clean, but because of the speed, they couldn’t keep up.

“So many were allowed through. It was and continues to be entirely wrong, and I refused to stay quiet.

"On any given a day, I could order a thousand birds to be cleaned again as I was so concerned. At one point management came to me and told me I couldn’t do what I was doing.

“I told them they had faecal matter inside. They said, ‘Sherry, you’re picking too many off. You have to stop refusing so many’.

“The manager then said, ‘They get sprayed again later down the line down. You must let it go’.

"It is peracetic acid he meant, which they use to kill the bacteria, but they still leave the faecal matter on the bird.

"It then goes on to processing, to be cut up, battered and packaged before then being sent out to the markets.

Exposure to the chemicals is also harmful to the workers.

“It is like taking a pile of cow manure, spraying it with peracetic acid, before frying and saying that it is now safe to eat. It is not.”

Sherry needed to have eight operations after working at the plant in Alabama for just a year.

She has lost 25% of her lung capacity, had to have a hysterectomy and rectal repair, and has ongoing sinus problems and organ damage.

At one point she was coughing so hard she broke two ribs.

Sherry says: “My breakfast is a cocktail of drugs that I will be on for the rest of my life. When the asthma attacks began they became so bad, I tore everything loose inside.”

Other US Department of Agriculture inspectors like Sherry and Karla, as well as poultry plant workers, have blamed chemical exposure for a range of ailments, including asthma and other severe respiratory problems, burns, rashes, irritated eyes, and sinus ulcers.

The workers try in vain to inform their management about the problem, but they're told to just send them on through. They compared the management of these companies to the mafia.

“There were times an entire batch of birds on the line was not fit for market but despite saying they must all be removed we were overruled by the plant’s managers.

“They run the plants like the mafia. The industry is so big they ride roughshod over our rulings.”

The ladies sent a message to Boris Johnson warning him to not take our chicken.

In a direct message to PM Boris Johnson, both women warn him not to put British people at risk for the sake of a trade deal with the US.

Sherry says: “It would be unforgivable to allow US chicken in your country.”

Karla says: “Plants only care about money. You may as well be drinking a gallon of bleach if you allow what I saw on to your shelves.”

Naturally, the owners of the plant where they worked declined to comment. However, there was a statement from the National Chicken Council:

America’s National Chicken Council claimed: “The US chicken industry prides itself on providing some of the safest, most abundant, most wholesome poultry products in the world.

“Chlorine is barely used as a food safety wash in processing plants in the US; it is rather used to clean and sanitize equipment.

"Peracetic acid is a food grade antiseptic that kills bacteria and microorganisms. It is peracetic acid is applied to carcasses at concentrations less acidic than products commonly found in kitchen cabinets."

Well, of course they would say that everything was perfectly safe.

But now I sometimes wonder about how I would get a light-headed effect every time I would get something from Church's Chicken. I don't think I'm going to go there anymore.

So, to our friends from the UK: Fair warning. Don't eat our chicken.

 

[SomeRandom]

I swear America has the most lax food safety standards of the modern world lol

 

[Stevicus]

I swear America has the most lax food safety standards of the modern world lol

I'm not really sure how it got as bad as it did. I don't think it was always like this, at least thinking back to some of my uncles' and cousins' farms I stayed at when I was a kid.

Granted, the life of a farm animal is certainly not an enviable one, even under better conditions. But the conditions in these chicken factories are unnatural. Of course, people can still choose to buy free-range chickens, although people may opt for the cheaper, mass-produced variety. They may not be able to afford better if they're trying to feed their families on a tight budget. That's the sad part of this whole story, since the UK may not buy our chicken, but Americans still will.

 

[sun rise]

I swear America has the most lax food safety standards of the modern world lol

Between those who would rather get sick and perhaps die from food born illnesses rather than pay for inspections and big business who is bribing (offering campaign contributions and cushy jobs) to those who might stop the practice, the current situation comes into focus.

 

[SomeRandom]

I'm not really sure how it got as bad as it did. I don't think it was always like this, at least thinking back to some of my uncles' and cousins' farms I stayed at when I was a kid.

Granted, the life of a farm animal is certainly not an enviable one, even under better conditions. But the conditions in these chicken factories are unnatural. Of course, people can still choose to buy free-range chickens, although people may opt for the cheaper, mass-produced variety. They may not be able to afford better if they're trying to feed their families on a tight budget. That's the sad part of this whole story, since the UK may not buy our chicken, but Americans still will.

I’m wondering if this has something to do with the “get by” mentality I see so often in American culture. Without minimum wage and not as many safety nets as other Western countries, there seems to be this grim acceptance that corners have to be cut or else one may starve. You know, people literally patching themselves up instead of seeking medical treatment because they haven’t the insurance.
I don’t know how to describe it. But it’s like a conditioning of just accepting abuses as long you’re not seen as some whinging slacker sucking on the teat of the evil socialism.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Brits warned 'do not take US meat at any cost' as poultry farm horror exposed



The conditions in these chicken processing plants are horrific.



The former plant workers say that the chicken is not fit for human consumption. Plant workers are also at risk from exposure to the chemicals they use on the birds.



At 140 birds per minute, they have less than a second to inspect each bird.

Exposure to the chemicals is also harmful to the workers.



The workers try in vain to inform their management about the problem, but they're told to just send them on through. They compared the management of these companies to the mafia.



The ladies sent a message to Boris Johnson warning him to not take our chicken.



Naturally, the owners of the plant where they worked declined to comment. However, there was a statement from the National Chicken Council:



Well, of course they would say that everything was perfectly safe.

But now I sometimes wonder about how I would get a light-headed effect every time I would get something from Church's Chicken. I don't think I'm going to go there anymore.

So, to our friends from the UK: Fair warning. Don't eat our chicken.

Too late. McDonald's and Burger King has already infiltrated! Bwhahahaha!!!!!

 

[Twilight Hue]

I swear America has the most lax food safety standards of the modern world lol

The most expensive would be more like it.

Produce and process fast and cheap, sell it for a mint. Keep shareholders happy. Not the consumer.

Inspections takes time, and time is money.


That's the corporate mentality now.

 

[Watchmen]

It’s a byproduct of factory “farming.”

 

[Father Heathen]

I swear America has the most lax food safety standards of the modern world lol

It's because corporations lobby to save themselves some $$$. Laws are lax because big business' interests are placed well above the common citizens' interests. Oh, and environmental interests as well.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It’s a byproduct of factory “farming.”

I never liked factory farming. When I had chickens they were all free range and layed eggs in units that a chicken could walk in and out of freely.

 

[Heyo]

Brits warned 'do not take US meat at any cost' as poultry farm horror exposed



The conditions in these chicken processing plants are horrific.



The former plant workers say that the chicken is not fit for human consumption. Plant workers are also at risk from exposure to the chemicals they use on the birds.



At 140 birds per minute, they have less than a second to inspect each bird.

Exposure to the chemicals is also harmful to the workers.



The workers try in vain to inform their management about the problem, but they're told to just send them on through. They compared the management of these companies to the mafia.



The ladies sent a message to Boris Johnson warning him to not take our chicken.



Naturally, the owners of the plant where they worked declined to comment. However, there was a statement from the National Chicken Council:



Well, of course they would say that everything was perfectly safe.

But now I sometimes wonder about how I would get a light-headed effect every time I would get something from Church's Chicken. I don't think I'm going to go there anymore.

So, to our friends from the UK: Fair warning. Don't eat our chicken.

Thanks to Donald Trump we don't have to put up with that.
(Yep, it was one of the good decisions he made to cancel the TTIP negotiations. He saved the EU from the US capitalists.)

 

[SomeRandom]

The most expensive would be more like it.

Produce and process fast and cheap, sell it for a mint. Keep shareholders happy. Not the consumer.

Inspections takes time, and time is money.


That's the corporate mentality now.

So... capitalism strikes again?

 

[Stevicus]

I don’t know how to describe it. But it’s like a conditioning of just accepting abuses as long you’re not seen as some whinging slacker sucking on the teat of the evil socialism.

Yeah, it's probably something like that. Anyone who complains or expresses some sort of problem is either weak or some kind of "whiner." It's a common trope in political discourse.

 

[Secret Chief]

It's already a big issue here in the UK.
Last year 1 in 6 Americans had food poisoning, 4 times more than Brits. The UK government have said we won't sacrifice standards to get a US trade deal post-brexit, so obviously they will. In the name of free trade the Americans want as little information as possible on products - eg ingredients, sources, country of origin.
Poor and / or uneducated Brits will buy cheap poor quality meat but those that can afford better will not voluntarily choose such products. The major supermarkets have all said they won't offer poor quality products (the item itself or the conditions on the farms). Brits are used to high standards (nutrition and welfare) and our government are aware of this annoying fact. By way of example GM foods (generally) need labelling as such because there is persisting opposition to it.
Genetically modified foods

 

[Secret Chief]

Too late. McDonald's and Burger King has already infiltrated! Bwhahahaha!!!!!

Yeah, American food is great isn't it. Orange and fat. Appropriate really, right now.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

yeah I'm in the middle of michael pollan's omnivore dilemma book. I really think that maybe we got to ease down human population, using birth control. It seems like you need cheap products to support billions, in high density conditions. And everything is a corn product.. your chicken, your beef etc. They ain't supposed to eat that neither. And that's the way we will continue to eat, so long as we keep elevating how many of us there will be. It all uses fossil fuels too, cause that's how they get the artificial fertilizer, right. Well, we can't really get off fossil fuels until we draw down our numbers then

Anyway , I had a weird dream the other night.. I was eating some corn chips.. and then there was sawdust in the bag, a little was ok so I kept going. Then I looked in the bag, and there weren't that many chips anymore, but it was mostly sawdust and maggots