McDonald's, Tyson Foods drop Tennessee poultry farm accused of abuse by animal rights group

McDonald's and Tyson Foods "severed ties with a Tennessee poultry farm after an animal-rights group on Thursday released video footage from the facility that showed chickens being stabbed, clubbed and crushed to death," Jacob Bunge reports for The Wall Street Journal. McDonald's serves 27 million customers daily, while Tyson Foods, the nation's largest chicken producer, raises about two billion birds annually—or 21 percent of the U.S. market.

Mercy for Animals said it documented animal abuse and inhumane conditions at T&S Farms, located in Dukedom, Tenn., "which the group said supplied chickens to a nearby Tyson processing plant that produced chicken McNuggets and other chicken products for McDonald’s," Bunge writes. "The video is the latest in a series of exposés by animal-rights groups that seek to spotlight alleged brutality and poor living conditions for commercially raised poultry and livestock. Such groups push for better treatment of animals and stricter policing of operations by top meat-buying restaurants and food companies." (Read more)