Arsenic, acetaminophen and anti-depressants fed to chickens

A few studies have recently looked at feather meal from chickens to determine what kind of chemicals the chickens are being fed. It turns out, they're getting a whole wackload.

These studies are disturbing for a number of reasons. Firstly, arsenic is given to chickens so that their meat is more tender.

Seriously? We poison animals that we want to eat so that we'll want to eat them more as long as we don't know about the poison?

Second, acetaminophen (active ingredient in tylenol), antihistamines, and in China, anti-depressants are fed to chickens, ostensibly to reduce their anxiety. At the same time, they're fed caffeine to keep them awake longer so that they eat more and grow more quickly.  Talk about selling the problem and the solution.

I can't imagine any person sick enough to treat a bunch of living animals this way on a daily basis. But that's possibly the most disturbing thing about this article. Tucked away in the middle and not addressed again, the author alleges:

"These findings will surprise some poultry farmers because even they often don’t know what chemicals they feed their birds. Huge food companies require farmers to use a proprietary food mix, and the farmer typically doesn’t know exactly what is in it. I asked the United States Poultry and Egg Association for comment, but it said that it had not seen the studies and had nothing more to say."


Woah. So you're telling me that some big conglomerate is selling a 'proprietary food mix' to farmers, who don't know what's in it. Worse, these Huge food companies REQUIRE that farmers use this particular mix.


I am quite baffled and upset by this. If I were ever to become a chicken farmer, I would be more than a little peeved to have some 'huge food company' force a toxic blend of chemicals on me and my chickens. I would also be stressed out beyond words to have to grow chickens waaaaayyyyy faster than they usually grow in order to sell them fast enough to make ends meet. No autonomy, no hope of advancement, unsustainable livelihood...


Farmers ought to be esteemed members of society. Food is our most basic need! These people ought to be lavished with the best tools, given control over the land, plants, animals and equipment that they use, and assisted with the best research and resources. 


If they aren't, we end up eating arsenic chicken.