Dive Brief:
- Perdue Farms has ended its relationship with contract growers Deese Farms and Hideaway Farms after an employee was convicted on misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, court documents showed.
- The employee in question, Danny Cajija Miranda, entered a guilty plea on consolidated charges for three counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals on Monday, according to court documents.
- Los Angeles-based Mercy for Animals discovered the chicken abuse after an undercover operative was employed at the farms and made recordings of the mistreatment.
Dive Insight:
Mercy for Animals has made other discoveries of alleged animal cruelty in the food industry recently. The organization claimed abuse of chickens at a Tyson Foods slaughterhouse outside Carthage, MS, in October, which Mercy for Animals also caught on hidden camera footage.
"We have ended our relationship with the two farms where the abuse occurred," Perdue spokeswoman Julie DeYoung told the Daily Journal. "Even though they were not directly involved in the mistreatment, we trust our contract farmers to ensure that our chickens are cared for appropriately, and unfortunately that did not happen here."
Food manufacturers have become more cognizant of consumer opinions about the treatment of animals in their supply chains, and some have taken action. Over the past few months, Kellogg, General Mills, and Nestle all announced plans to source only cage-free eggs for their products over the next five to 10 years.
"[Miranda] was sentenced to 45 days behind bars — receiving credit for the 27 days already served — and 12 months of unsupervised probation by District Court Judge Regina Joe. In addition, he was ordered 'not to be employed with any type of animals,'" Daily Journal reported. Miranda, a Mexican citizen, was reportedly picked up by U.S. immigration officials on Tuesday.