Quite simply, we are not selling the same product.  Not even the same breed.  As far as nutrition goes, you get what you pay for, even if the results aren’t immediately obvious.  Big box stores need volume, which means packing birds into large, crowded buildings and feeding them cheap, inferior food to make them grow larger more quickly.  This is how the large poultry producers keep up with demand from Americans.

You can read the well-written articles below, but here are the main points:

• Raising the chickens is outsourced to other farmers to reduce the risk.  Farmers take out loans of $500,000 to $1,000,000 to build facilities to house chickens.  They enter into contracts with large chicken companies and large chains to raise the chickens to the company’s standards.  The farmers take the risk and are paid between 5 to 6 cents per pound of chicken produced.  This is standard for the major chicken producers in the US.
• “The world’s tens of billions of meat chickens – “broilers” – grow at a freakishly fast pace.  Concentrated in houses with upwards of 20,000 to 30,000 other birds, each full-grown chicken gets less than a square foot of living space.  Modern broilers spend their short 7-week lives on top of their own waste encrusted bedding…” reports the book, CAFO – The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories by Daniel Imhoff
• Concentrating animals of any kind in these environments results in “degenerative farming,” polluting the water and air of the surrounding communities.
• Factory farm workers report chronic bronchitis, occupational asthma, and Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome, while processing plant workers suffer from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, cuts and lacerations, slips and falls and amputations.

If you are a visual learner, click on this fabulous infographic.   

The mass production of America’s food comes with a hefty price. Find out the environmental, animal, and human impact of raising over 99 percent of US farm animals in factory farms in this infographic,”

The Truth About Factory Farms.” Visit our infographic page for the high-res version.