The National Chicken Council (NCC) is a special interest group representing the chicken industry in the United States.^[1] According to them, “[Chicken is] one of the most successful sectors in agriculture. In a little over 50 years, the U.S. broiler industry has evolved from fragmented, locally oriented businesses into a highly efficient, vertically integrated, progressive success story.”

That’s their story, and they’re sticking to it.

They’re also paying for it. For decades, NCC has consistently ranked near the top of all organizations that have contributed to campaigns or lobbied in Washington.^[2] They have spent many millions to buy the favor of politicians—both Republicans and Democrats—over the years, and that investment continues to pay off in various ways.

Industry-Approved Legislation and Certification

You might have heard of “ag-gag laws,” a notorious tactic for protecting the interests of industrialized animal farming operations.^[3] They do so by criminalizing investigative reporting and whistleblowing activities at farming operations. In effect, these laws criminalize transparency. Many states have tried to pass such laws, and several have succeeded. Still, there has been resistance: in 2015, the US District Court struck down Idaho’s ag-gag law on the grounds that it violated constitutionally protected rights of free speech and equal protection.^[4]

The animal agriculture industry does not want you to know how the sausage gets made. Whenever possible, they attempt to hide their operations from the public. Some of those attempts are surprisingly brazen, their claims so obviously dubious. It’s as if they don’t expect us to do the most basic research.

For example, according to NCC: “The chicken industry has developed a specific set of expectations that will ensure that the birds we raise are taken care of with the highest standards starting at hatch.”^[5] To help with that, they’ve developed Animal Welfare Guidelines, which have been certified, “after a significant review process,” by the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO). “With this certification, consumers and customers can feel confident that when buying and eating chicken, the birds were well-cared for and treated humanely.”

PAACO’s sustaining partners:^[6]

• JBS (the world’s largest beef processor);^[7]
• Merck Animal Health (biopharmaceutical company);
• McDonald’s Corporation;
• OSI Group (global meat processor, “[with] 65 plants in 17 countries on five continents”);^[8]
• Peco Foods (poultry specialists);
• PIC (genetics company invested in “making a better pig every day… with a focus on total economics to maximize the profit for the pork value chain.”);^[9]
• National Pork Producers Council;
• Tyson Foods; and
• US Poultry & Egg Association.

What do all these sustainers have in common, if not a legitimate concern for animal welfare?

The Values of NCC

There is, surely, only one thing NCC genuinely cares about—maximizing profit for the industry they represent. They are an engine designed to generate money. When they aren’t investing in shaping the thinking of politicians; when they aren’t making ludicrous claims about animal welfare; they are often making projections about profitability.

In 2021, they looked at the per capita consumption of poultry and livestock since 1965, with projections into 2023.^[10] They show that per capita total red meat consumption has decreased 23% in the last 50 years, while per capita total poultry consumption has increased nearly 125% in the same period, from 50.4 pounds to 113.3 pounds. Data from the OECD iLibrary show similar trends around the world: per capita consumption of poultry has increased in countries regardless of whether their economies are designated developed, developing, or least developed.^[11]

These trends reflect more than consumer demand. They are the measure of a massive system of violence. And the consequences are not discussed often enough.

Inside an Industrial Chicken Operation

Frank Dixon has done an excellent job of detailing the excruciating conditions found in industrial chicken facilities. In his book, Sustainable Food Production & Diet, he describes how these factory farming conditions are unhygienic, inhumane, and potentially catastrophic:^[12]

Birds are packed together with little room to move. In broiler chicken operations (i.e. chicken raised for meat), 20,000 to 30,000 day-old chicks often are placed on wood shavings or other litter material in a barren shed. As the chickens grow, the space between them decreases until there is little to no room to move. Egg-laying hen operations sometimes confine over 100,000 hens per shed. Hens often are placed in battery cages (up to ten hens per cage). Then, the cages are stacked on top of each other. Hens need 291 square inches to flap wings, 197 square inches to turn around, and 72 square inches to stand freely. US commercial battery facilities provide an average of 64 square inches of space per hen. Living conditions create great stress in part by preventing birds from engaging in natural behavior. Hens often beat off half of their feathers by flapping their wings against cages.

Intensive breeding greatly reduces genetic diversity in industrial chicken operations. Five broiler breeding companies provide more than 95 percent of the world’s breeding stock. Five egg-laying hen breeding companies also provide over 95 percent of the world’s breeding stock. Homogenizing poultry stock greatly increases the ability of viruses to quickly move through entire flocks.

No wonder there has been such a push for ag-gag laws: such nightmares are enough to unsettle almost anyone’s appetite.