CONTACT: Nadia Schilling, nadia@idausa.org, 415-448-0048

IMAGES: http://bit.ly/SandersonChickens

Hammond, LA (Feb 23, 2017) – International animal protection organization, In Defense of Animals, is calling out one of the nation’s largest poultry producers for refusing a federal health and safety study. The company supplies over 550 million fresh and frozen chickens each year, and has been heavily promoting its practice of pumping chickens with antibiotics as safe. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s proposed study would determine the actual risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria spreading to humans at one of the chicken super-producer’s slaughterhouse facilities in Hammond, Louisiana.

In Defense of Animals is urging Sanderson Farms to prioritize public health over profits. “Sanderson Farms slammed the door shut on the study for fear of ending up with egg on its face,” says Dr. Marilyn Kroplick, President of In Defense of Animals. “It’s hard to swallow Sanderson’s bogus claims of ‘honesty’, and ‘integrity,’ while it actively misleads customers and bars public safety tests. We will not see our health and animal welfare sold off for the sake of greedily swelling company profits. It’s time for Sanderson Farms to prove it is not endangering public health through its antibiotic use by opening its doors to this important federal study.”

Sanderson Farms is the third biggest chicken producer in the US, with headquarters in Mississippi, processing facilities in Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia, and hundreds of farms on contract throughout the country. The industrial-scale poultry corporation recently spent millions of dollars into an advertising campaign that loudly promoted its practice of pumping chickens with antibiotics as harmless, and smeared chicken raised without antibiotics as a “a trick to get you to pay more money.” Despite the bold assertions in its ads, the poultry company was quick to refuse a scientific survey that would prove its claims.

Antibiotic resistant superbugs are a major public health threat. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Centers for Disease Control have all testified before Congress that there is a connection between the routine use of antibiotics for meat production and the declining effectiveness of antibiotics for treating infections in people. Globally, more than 700,000 people die from antibiotic resistant bacteria each year and if the epidemic is not brought under control, could kill more people than cancer by 2050.

A recent statement by Sanderson Farms in relation to its antibiotic use makes a clear link between putting poultry profiteering before the urgent health risk, “If our customers, consumers, or the scientific community change their views about antibiotics from those they have expressed to date, we will react in a responsible way. However, we believe we provide a lower cost alternative to customers for whom cost is a primary driver of purchasing decisions.”

For further information and to take action, please visit: http://bit.ly/TellSanderson

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In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a 30-year history of fighting for animals, people and the environment through education, campaigns and hands on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi.

IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS • 3010 KERNER BLVD. • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 • 415-448-0048