Cheap as Chicken

Apparently chicken producers in this country get 37 cent per chicken they raise and produce.  Supermarkets get €2.50 and the remainder goes on processing and distributing.  In the average supermarket the consumer pays around €5 or €6 for a medium to large oven ready chicken.

I wonder is there anyone out there who thinks that breakdown is fair? Probably not, but go back to the chicken producer for a minute.

For 37 cent he has to feed that chicken you are going to eat...... He also has to heat the house the chickens are raised in.  I think it is probably fair to say that the chicken is going to be fed the cheapest food possible to keep it alive and reasonably healthy and fatten it up in the shortest possible time. 

That food is going to consist of imported, genetically modified grain, in particular soy and maize.  It will contain antibiotics to prevent the spread of disease in the cramped, confined conditions.

The chicken is going to have enough space to just about turn around.  It is going to be raised in a house where the litter is not changed once throughout it's life.  It is going to grow so fast that it's legs won't be able to support it's weight.  It will therefore spend a large percentage of it's time lying down and will get ammonia burns on its body.  It will also inhale a large amount of those ammonia fumes and will never see daylight or get fresh air.

According to the EU and Department of Agriculture guidelines and to quote a vet "this is legal" and that was as much as he would say.  I think what he didn't say spoke volumes.

But at least it's an Irish produced chicken the consumer will say.  Not a cheap chicken from Asia.  Well in a race to scrape the bottom of the barrel, I fail to see that there is going to be much of a difference.

But consumers "demand" cheap chicken.

You know the old saying "no such thing as a free lunch"? What if eating cheap, low quality food will ultimately catch up on you? 

As they say there are precious few atheists on their deathbed......


Tags: Ear to the Ground Cheap Chicken Cheap Food Department of Agriculture