In recent production agriculture news, Chris Raines, assistant professor and meat science extension agent for Penn State University teamed up with Feedstuffs Foodlink and toured Polyface Farms.
Polyface is the "alternative to factory farms" that is seen in the movie Food INC. The movie uses polyface farms as an example of ways to raise animals so that they aren't on factory farms because the movie wants you to believe that commercial farms are bad. We have already shown (as an industry) the USDA has no specific rule or regulation that declares you as a factory farm. Bu tthe movie is trying to spread fear through emotion that animals are mistreated, mishandled and that harversting these animals for meat is done inhumanely & creates unsafe meat products.
Chris was able to take some photos of Polyface Farms while on his tour and he posted them to his facebook page. Here is the link to those photos.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.957304996121.2469526.17009737
Look through these photos before you read this.
The photos blow my mind. How can you have safe food products being raised in this environment? Even worse, they are harvesting livestock and creating finished meat products here. I was amazed to see that the chickens are eating, sleeping, and living in a barn under rabbits that are in hanging pens. This means that all the manure and waste from the rabbit pens is landing in the chickens food supply and living area. I have never seen animal care housing like this on a commercial production level. I can't believe that the USDA let alone the HSUS sees this as a safe and clean environment to raise chickens in. By the way these chickens are all COMMERCIALLY BRED heavy muscled broilers. Thats right, COMMERCIAL. these birds aren't homegrown, they come from a commercial hatchery that is genetically modifying the birds to be big breasted for increased meat. You see, the birds hear aren't any different from the chickens at any other commercial farm, in fact polyface is supporting farms that modify these traits by buying their birds.
A similar story is seen in the hog. The hogs at Polyface are all purchased as feeder pigs. These feeder pigs come from commercial production units similar to the one that my family operates. They buy the hogs from producers when they weigh roughly 45lbs. They DO NOT breed and farrow any of their own pigs. You see a trend???
Wait til you get this....
Did you see the pictures of the "slaughter house"? you might have noticed it as the outdoor meat processing area! Would you buy meat from a place that you know slaughtered and prepared your meat outdoors where the meat is exposed to contaminants? what about products from the offal bucket? The offal is everything that can't be cu tinto a normal meat cut. It still get s used as food though, and their was a cat standing next to the RAW MEAT. I would be extremely scared to eat food that was processed in this atmosphere and I encourage that you compae this to any standards, rules, regulations that "commercial" processors like Smithfield, Tyson & Purdue must follow.
Overall I am astonished to see that a farm that is said to be "better & safer" for us is operated, managed and owned in the way it is. As I reflect on this, I think I realize just how safe my pigs are, how healthy they are and how well the slaughterhouses I've seen are run. Consumer confidence shouldn't be getting stronger through the image of happy animals as Polyface Farms, consumers who are truly worried about the quality of the food they eat should contact a farmer, producer or extension agent to gain information about how safe their food products are.
I have strong feelings about these photos and I want to thank Chris Raines and Feedstuffs Foodlink for the eyeopening experience of what is going on at the "alternative" farm.
In this post you have shared your thoughts photos of a place you did not see. Instead, you reacted to my own photos, amazingly enough without asking me a single question about them. Given that so many consider agriculture to be "under attack" (attack, or being questioned?), it troubles me that you would write a denigrating post about a welcomed visit which we were privileged to make. Realizing that you know better than to describe commercial broilers as "genetically modified," I have a hunch that this was written and posted without reflecting on it too much. Please edit it.
ReplyDeleteHad you visited it, you would have learned a few things about the farm and one man's philosophy... which he is completely entitled to have. I am not even going to throw the darts at your food safety commentary, which all very debatable.
As for your reservations, have you ever considered that your farm is simply an alternative to his system?
Chris Raines
Thanks for sharing this post. I had not seen the photos from Polyface. I noticed several things that were eye openning. About the cat in the chicken harvest area, since when have you been around a cat that hasn't eaten, then licked itself, then sheds everywhere. Might as well let him romp on the table. And where is the water coming from and going in that facility? How's that affect the environment if its not contained? And did you notice the mud covered muck boots in the processing area?
ReplyDeleteI could continue with my observances, but well said in this post. We should be concerned about food safety and sanitary conditions. I know I will thank farmers and ranchers who play close attention to those points.
I too have toured Polyface, the chicken processing area is indeed an open area. You did not mention that the processing facility is only operated a couple of days a week, and then only seasonally during the summer. This is not a facility that processes tens of thousands of birds a day, operated by non english speaking illegals with no connection to the customer. Polyface customers either buy direct or have it delivered, what business of yours is it if they approve of the processing methods?
ReplyDeleteAs for the rabbits, the chickens underneath are aerating the bedding, keeping it fresh and dynamic. It's synergistic system! Did you know that the ammonia in the air in a commercial rabbit house is unbreathable? Not so at Polyface.
Hogs on grass! The horror. By the way, Salatin does not buy commerical pigs, most of what I saw were Berkshires and Durocs, not the thin white commercial pigs with no rear end to speak of.
It's a sad state of affairs when agriculturalists and farm kids have become so unconnected to the food they raise that they think that the only safe food comes in vacuum plastic tray brought to them by unknown, unskilled, and under payed processors.
And one more thing, since you're making such broad accusations about Polyface and Salatin, I'm sure you well know that they own and operate a FEDERALLY INSPECTED processing facility in Staunton, Virginia that handles everything but the poultry.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm sure you knew that, right?
All very good points, Go_with_the_. A clarification, though, is that Berkshires and Durocs do make their way into commercial systems. This is a summary of my thoughts I posted a few days after visiting the farm: http://meatblogger.org/2011/05/09/polythoughts/
ReplyDeleteChris
Though I think you intentions initially with this post were well and good, I think that it was not completely well thought out. Sometimes I feel that many of us get caught up in the heat of the "agvocate" moment and we don't stop and think before we say or write something. I do not think it is your place to pass judgement on Polyface Farms without knowing anything about the "story" behind the photos or what transpired on the visit. I find this post more ag-gravating than I do ag-vocating.
ReplyDeleteI would like to apologize to Chris and Polyface for any comment I made that offended you. I do not have the experience you do working with producers and food. I realize I mistated things and I will edit my post soon to reflect this. I know that I have created quite a stir and I apologize for this. I appreciate the comments I have recieved from other producers explaining my mistakes and what is going on here. I did not mean to pass strong judgement on Polyface, amd I will work towards fixing this mistake in future posts. I apologize again to Chris & Polyface for any offense I gave to them through this post.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I find this offensive. Who's to say your production method is not "alternative" to mine? I'd suggest you get out of your bubble and physically visit farms that don't look like your own.
ReplyDelete