OCA and Food & Water Watch are suing Pilgrim’s for deceptive marketing and advertising of Pilgrim’s Pride chicken products. The suit was brought in D.C. Superior Court, under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act.
The gist of our lawsuit is this: Pilgrim’s falsely claims that the birds used in its products are fed “only natural ingredients,” “treated humanely” and produced in an environmentally responsible way. But the fact is, Pilgrim’s systematically raises, transports and slaughters chickens in inhumane factory-farm conditions that include the routine use of antibiotics, synthetic chemical disinfectants, genetically modified crops, growth-promoting drugs and other unnatural substances.
We think Pilgrim’s practices are inhumane and contribute to a host of problems, including the growing crisis of antibiotic-resistance.
We think it’s even more wrong that Pilgrim’s deceives consumers about how the brand’s products are actually produced.
It’s not the only complaint against Pilgrim’s. Bloomberg reports:
In December, the company was the subject of a complaint filed by the Humane Society of the United States with the Federal Trade Commission, which said Pilgrim’s Pride was “scalding fully conscious chickens” as a result of its methods for slaughter, yet stating on its website at the time that its birds were being produced “as humanely as possible.”
And in news unrelated to OCA and FWW’s lawsuit, Pilgrim’s Pride is recalling 58,000 pounds of popcorn-style chicken sold at Publix Super Markets after consumer complaints of rubber in the product. Yuck.
Read our press release
Read the complaint
Read Bloomberg’s coverage of our lawsuit
More on the Myth of Natural