Ventilation Shutdown PLUS, Veal Calf Rebranding, and a Chicken Crust Pizza Nobody Asked For: The Animal Ag Industry’s Week in Horrors | Rising Anxieties

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And our first story t- uh, we have a couple of really bad things today. I'm not gonna lie. Uh, this isn't fun. Um, this is from Modern Poultry, which, you know, considers itself a very sustainable kind of, uh, site. Ventilation shutdown with heat and humidity demonstrates effectiveness as broiler depopulation method.

Remember when, like, we couldn't imagine that, that shutting off the ventilation and letting the animals suffocate, uh, was, was ever going to be, like, standardized? It was just this terrible thing that was happening and, and then they'd find some other way to manage their, their crises like, like COVID and, uh, and bird flu.

No. No, they just standardized ventilation shutdown. That was just so much smarter. Like, that, that makes so much more sense. All right, so now they're trying to make it better. Of course, make it better for the, for the chickens, uh, you know, uh, and now we're not just talking about hens. We're talking about chickens in general because we're talking about broilers.

Broilers were not, as they call them... I hate calling them broilers. Why do I do that? Uh, and, um, chickens raised so that people can eat their flesh. And they weren't a big deal, uh, in, in, during COVID. They were a big deal during COVID, but they w- they're not, have not been a big deal for bird flu.

I don't know why. I don't know why. Uh, maybe somebody does. All right, so they did this research at North Carolina State University, and they're trying to figure out, um, how to, uh, kill a lot of broilers at once because you never know. I mean, you know, it, it does become necessary. And they only made up about 6% of the 96 million birds that died, um, either from bird flu or were sacrificed.

I just, uh, I just did air quotes, um, for those who are just listening. I'll try to, I'll try to mention that. Uh, sacrificed. Sacrificed to exactly what god? Uh, uh, don't know. Um, so the pandemic experience begs the question, when it comes to broilers specifically, how do improved methods of rapid depopulation compare?

Is that the question? Is that really the question that we should be asking right at this moment? Oh, so there are three, um, I guess, standard methods of, of, um, of depopulation, which is, you know, killing large numbers of birds. Ventilation shutdown with heat. That's where, you know, you, you shut down off the air and you turn up the heat.

Ventilation shutdown with heat and humidity. Ah, that's a, that's a tricky, uh, addition. And increased carbon dioxide. And so they, um, there are a few methods approved by the AVMA, which will apparently approve virtually anything that you can do to an animal. One is water-based foam application, one is carbon dioxide, and, and then these, these two forms of, um, ventilation shutdown plus, either plus heat or plus heat and humidity.

Um, while ventilation shutdown plus heat and ventilation shutdown plus CO2 are approved, there is still a need for quicker, less stressful methods. And one of the reasons for that is that, um, these other methods, uh, like the, the, the foam method, which I guess is the, the first one that was ever approved for killing large numbers, that, that takes, it, it, it requires a lot of employees.

So, you know, we wouldn't want to do that. And there might... And CO2, you know, they might not have CO2 'cause they might not buy it or hire the employees to do the other k- So, like, let's just focus on the two that are real- they can kind of do whatever they want and it doesn't really cost them really that much money, and that is, um, adding heat and, and humidity.

And they found that if you add humidity, it's better. It's not a whole lot better. It's not a whole lot better, but it does result in uh four minutes less time before they die, which is, uh, like 60 minutes and 64 minutes. Um, if, if you have carbon monox- carbon dioxide, it's 20 minutes. And so they studied all these things about, um, their EEG rates and all...

This is fuck- fucking bullshit. I mean, just don't do this to animals. Just don't do it. Just don't do it. Sorry. This is disgusting. Just absolutely disgusting.

What does this study mean for producers? Who cares what the fuck it means for... I'm sorry, that's the second time I said fuck, and I'm not supposed to say fuck at all.

Um, who cares what it means for producers? What about what it means for the... Well, they are telling you about what it means for the chickens, and they're comparing one horror to another horror and saying this horror is less horrible, so it's good. That's basically their whole model.

All right. Early BRD intervent- this is from AgDaily, Early BRD intervention leads to better outcomes for beef on dairy cattle.

And, you know, one of the reasons I chose this article to talk about is because I think we all have to become more familiar with this beef on dairy cattle thing, because right now the way cattle ranching is seen by most people is as ranching, and it's true. Uh, you know, they do-- It's not like it's a party for these animals, but they live out on the, quote-unquote, "range."

And the, um, the babies are with their mothers for-- the, the beef cattle are with their mothers for, I don't know, like, uh, around a year, uh, before they're sent off to feedlots. And, um, so it's seen as by far the least intensive form of, um, raising animals. Well, the dairy producers have figured out, "That's crazy. We know how to keep cows locked up, so that's what we should do. And we have all these veal calves, and nobody wants veal in this country because somehow the message on veal managed to get through and nobody eats it, or not very many people eat it. And so we can just keep, keep them alive a little longer in their crappy little hutches, and, and then they'll turn into beef cattle, and then we can kill them, and then we can sell them. It's-- This is so smart."

Um, quote, "As beef on dairy cattle become a larger part of the US supply chain, early health decisions carry long-term performance consequences, especially when it comes to bovine respiratory disease." Well, who would imagine the cows might get sick if you do this to them? Um, and, oh, it says that a traditional beef calf is going to be with its mother for five to eight months, so I exaggerated.

I said a year. Um, and the, the beef on dairy calf, on the other hand, typically enters more of a confinement setting. More of a confinement setting? On a dairy farm or a calf ranch. A calf ranch. Ever seen those big seas of, of little, little plastic hutches? It's a calf ranch. In a hutch within a couple of days after being born.

Yeah, that's what happens to them. And so, uh, it, then it just talks about, you know, disease possibilities, which, oh, who'd imagine the babies might get sick in this situation. They have to manage colostrum and, um, because beef on dairy calves are often housed in more intensive systems, yeah, no shit, uh, producers have opportunities to detect illness sooner. So it's actually kinda good for them.

You can't make this stuff up. You seriously can't make this stuff up, the stuff I talk about on this show. Um, all right, from Investigate Midwest, this will concern meat eaters, so presumably not most of you guys, but, you know, you might know meat eaters, so you might want to mention it to them.

Um, after USDA cuts, complaints over food safety spike. This is by Juan Vassallo at Investigate Midwest. And, um, apparently, uh, the Trump administration has cut down a lot on the staff of FSIS, Food Safety and Inspection Services. And, and as a result, the number of complaints filed about the safety of meat, poultry, and egg products jumped nearly 40% last year from 1,443 to 2,016.

And, uh, and FSIS lost about 9% of its staff, and they still managed to find some stuff. They, uh, found uninspected beef tallow. Beef tallow, isn't that the stuff that RFK Jr. loves? Um, oversaw a recall of 58 million pounds of corn dogs with foreign objects in them. Um, responded to seven multi-state outbreaks of foodborne illness.

Four of those outbreaks were linked to listeria, um, which resulted in 250 illnesses and 140 hospitalizations. So those are the things they caught, but apparently there's loads of things they didn't caught because they are rolling back, uh, not only the staff, but food safety measures. Um, there, there were these years in development salmonella standards for raw poultry.

Like, who could imagine that raw poultry would have salmonella? Uh, we're not doing that anymore. They shelved those, those new standards that they put all that research into. And, um, last- this isn't just the USDA, FSIS is part of the USDA, but also the FDA. Last year, FDA Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones resigned in protest after calling the dismissal of 89 food safety employees indiscriminate.

I bet he very carefully chose that word. Noting that those affected included specialists in infant formula, chemical safety, and outbreak response. Okay, good. Bet you're glad you're not eating meat.

Oh, here's a, a classic, a classic, um, Rising Anxieties post. Watch out for animal activists posing as farmers. A, th- uh, this is by, uh, uh, what's her name? I can't find her name. Anyway, I really can't find her name. There's a picture of her here. I swear sh- this woman wrote it, but her name is not on here. Um, all right

Couldn't animal activists be farmers? You know, as I frequently say, we don't hate farmers, we hate animal abusers, i.e. animal farmers, animal ranchers, animal whatever it is they do, what they think they do. We love farmers. We eat food. All right. But, but that's not her point. Um, she talks about, um, farmers and ranchers have to be wary of groups like Farm Action run by two former Humane World for Animal staff members, and the American Meat Producers Association, which is also led by a former Humane World for Animal staffer.

Okay. Uh, you know, we've heard this report before, I think. Uh, and how... She wants to know how the... Or she wants to ask you whether you know, how does the Animal Agriculture Alliance know for sure that these groups don't really represent farmers and ranchers? Because they both support upholding laws like California's Proposition 12, apparently.

That is a com- those are completely different universes, farmers and ranchers and people who, uh, support Prop 12. It's unimaginable, and they lie about the numbers of farmers and ranchers that support Prop 12. I think she was just saying it was zero, but, but, uh, apparently there i- there are some.

She talks about Humane World for Animals that claim that 5,000 farms across 39 states support Prop 12, um, and she said that was totally not true because the list included 100 wineries, 150 honey producers, a goat yoga practitioner, and an urban garden. I mean, they are farmers, but even if you say that, all right, you were supposed to only have, um, have animal farmers in here, that's still only, like, 252 entities, so out of 5,000 it still seems pretty good, but not her.

It disgusts her. It's the kind of propaganda that gets on social media, and many people believe everything they read. Why, I'll, uh, I, I'm with you on that. She's also mad at PETA, how they came out with a report that said raising free range chickens was just as bad or worse than raising them in cages, which, which, which don't, don't you like that report?

'Cause you don't want people to have to switch to free ra-... I'm confused. Um, and this, but she's, she's worried because all these chicken and egg farmers had made the switch. It doesn't have anything to do with chicken, uh, it's eggs. Uh, what PETA really wants is that nobody eats chicken or eggs. Like, PETA says that all the time.

They are not keeping it a secret. Uh, none of us are, and in the end I'm sure they will also come out against the hog producers who switched to the Proposition 12 space requirements. I'm sure they will. As well they should. Nobody ever said this was enough. Never forget animal activists' main objective is to wipe out all animal agriculture Yeah.

And it seems they will do anything to achieve that goal, even posing as farmers. Well, I'm not gonna pose as a farmer, I, I admit. I, I, I mean, I would, I would, but I, I don't think I could pull it off. All right. This is, this is... We've come to the totally disgusting moment of, of the show. Uh, this is from Watt Poultry, a column by Roy Graber.

Ground chicken emerges as a pizza crust staple. Yes. Fortunately, this is not something that's being sold. It's something he saw on the internet, and, uh, people are making a pizza crust that uses ground chicken as the base and Parmesan cheese as a binder. I swear, I swear. I mean, I think he thinks it's such a good idea that obviously it should be produced, uh, 'cause they would love to use up all of their ground chicken.

And he personally has an interest because he has type 2 diabetes, so, you know, he wouldn't want to eat a pizza crust. It's much better for him to eat a load of, um, ground chicken. Do they have... W- why does nobody seem to know or be willing to say that animal products and fat content is linked to type 2 diabetes?

It's, like, unbelievable. All right, I won't go on about that. That's, uh, you know, wait for, wait for it in your gr- grocery store. Here, his last line here. "And if we start seeing more ground chicken offerings at the grocery store, that will be a good sign that ground chicken pizza crust has become an enduring meal trend."

Oh, my God, these people are revolting. All right. I'm gonna close with good news. Well, you know, in the context of animal agriculture, good news. It is from Plant Based News, so that should be a source for good news once in a while. We love them there. Retailers should, quote, "Capture opportunity as plant-based market returns to growth."

Like, first of all, I love that headline, returns to growth. We've all heard all, all, all about the slippage, and maybe it was just a, you know, a little slump. A new report by Systemiq and ProVeg International has called for retailers to take alternative proteins more seriously. Yeah, totally. It's just infuriating.

Um, all right, the report urged retailers to take, um, them more seriously, particularly amid the sector's return to growth, the instability of a meat-focused global food system, and the coming price parity between plant and animal foods. And, um- According to the report, the plan... This of course is, is, is based on UK stuff.

The plant-based share of UK protein sales could double in size from 14% in 2026 to 29% in 2040, and in my personal opinion, once you get to 29%, you're gonna get to 100, but that's just me. The report also notes that retailers are... This is really important, I think. Retailers are the primary growth lever, not consumers.

Um, and they would like to see, uh, retailers create more private label options, improve promotions, and carefully consider shelf placement. A- as we've seen from, from all of the work with, um, Default Veg and, and, and all those folks, shelf placement, I mean, it's very, very important in a cafeteria setting.

It would obviously be just as important in a grocery store. People just do what's in front of them. Um, and it would, it would, uh, it would benefit everybody. And, um, but, uh, the thing I wanted to point out, retailers are the primary growth lever, not consumers. As activists, I think that, and we know this, but, uh, you know, we should not waste our time on, on getting people to go vegan.

I mean, if it's a possibility, obviously we should spend our time on that. But if it's not gonna happen, we shouldn't spend our time on that. We should g- get, um, the vegan options out there, and you know the industry has been killing vegan options. I mean, there's no, there's no way they could have reduced that much, um, without the industry being at work killing them.

So vegan op- make sure there are vegan options, make sure, like, things like shelf placement, um, I mean, that's a little hard for us to be sure of, but, but it's not hard for us to be sure of, uh, working to get vegan options available. It's really, really crucial. And also, not that we should give up individual actio- activism, or as I said, if there's somebody you think might go vegan, of course persuade them to go vegan.

But get them to choose vegan. Like, just encourage people more and more, because other people, unlike us, don't seem to have this thing about consistency around it. They recognize it as a good thing, but they just don't think they have to do it all the time. I don't know how that brain works, but, you know, let's face it, it does.

So choose vegan, choose vegan, choose vegan. And, um, so as this article points out, the plant-based category is evolving, not dying. This is just really important for us to remember, 'cause they love to get us discouraged. In March, Tesco, the UK supermarket, reported plant-based food growth for the first time in years.

They highlighted particular demand for high-protein products, tofu, seitan, tempeh. Um, the Good Food Institute Europe, um, said that the cost of plant-based meat and meatballs is approximately 33% cheaper at Tesco than traditional minced beef or lamb. This is an opportunity to take advantage of, especially since, you know, we're obviously running into rough economic times.

Uh, this is our moment. This is our moment. We had the slump, we got discouraged, now we gotta get back and, and do smart activism. I'm, I'm gonna try to commit. All right, I think that's... I'm losing my voice. You know, that happens sometimes. I think it's like I talk too loud sometimes. Anyway, thanks for being here today and joining me.

And don't forget to subscribe, like, and comment, and listen to the Hen Report, and listen to the interview, and I'll see you next time.