Yahoo News Unpacking Claims That Butterball Turkeys Were Sexually Abused by Workers
A nearly 20-year-old claim that turkeys from the company Butterball were sexually abused before being slaughtered and packaged for food circulated online just days before Thanksgiving in late November 2024.
Multiple videos on TikTok shared the claim. One user replied, saying, "Why is this allowed!? I am NEVER buying a butterball.... ever again." Another said, "How can there be people with a heart like that?" A different user commented, "Literally just finding this out after I bought mine over the weekend."
The claim originated with an Instagram post by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The group shared a video clip of a 2006 investigation into a Butterball factory in which the anonymous investigator alleges, "One guy humped a shackled turkey one day, and another time, another worker was putting his fingers in a turkey's cloaca, which is basically her vagina, while the line was stopped."
Sexual abuse was not the only accusation that appeared in the clip but also physical abuse, like punching, kicking, breaking bones, dismembering limbs, crushing turkeys under vehicles and more.
A Butterball spokesperson told Snopes:
We are aware of a video from nearly 20 years ago, which is being re-shared across social media. This video is not current and was taken prior to Butterball becoming a private company and prior to our engagement and certification through American Humane. Animal care and well-being is central to who we are as a company, and we are committed to the ethical and responsible care of our flocks.
The spokesperson added Butterball was taken private "around October 2006" when Carolina Turkeys acquired Butterball from ConAgra Foods. Food industry B2B publication Just Food reported at the time that the company "acquired more than 3,200 employees and five processing plants."
PETA confirmed to Snopes that the clip is indeed from an undercover investigation in 2006, which was not disclosed in the Instagram post. PETA also said it did not have a more recent Butterball investigation to cite. However, the group referred to investigations into Butterball done by other animal-rights organizations, like Mercy for Animals, as well as more recent investigations by PETA into competing turkey companies, like Plainville Farms. In the latter case, "a total of 139 charges were filed, including six felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and 76 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty," according to a 2022 report from The Associated Press.
In 2011, a Butterball facility in North Carolina was raided by the Hoke County Sheriff's department after footage captured by Mercy for Animals prompted a response, resulting in misdemeanor animal cruelty charges against six employees and charges of obstructing justice and obstructing a police officer against a state employee.
Regarding the claims of sexual abuse specifically, an important piece of context is that PETA considers artificial insemination of turkeys, a widespread practice in the farming industry, to be sexual abuse. Amber Canavan, PETA's vegan campaigns project manager, told Snopes, "Hens are held down and syringes inserted into their cloaca, forcefully impregnating them. The males are also held down and forcefully ejaculated. And that is because these birds are still being bred to be so large that they can't mate anymore."
However, PETA claims that artificial insemination is not the only sexual abuse that has happened in Butterball facilities. Canavan said:
We have found that workers will often take out their frustrations or try to impress their coworkers by doing things to the animals. And sometimes those are sexual in nature, as we saw in the Plainville investigation and in the Butterball investigation. We have seen that happening, unfortunately. So that is something that the industry doesn't like getting out there that happens, and they'd like to think that it's not happening.
But, unfortunately, it takes organizations like PETA, at great risk to our investigators, to go in and document those abuses. And if Butterball was sure that that wasn't happening anymore — there's a reason why they don't have CCTVs or live-streaming in their slaughterhouses. We've long pushed for that — if they don't have anything to hide and if they think the public would be OK with everything that's happening inside.
While the 2006 PETA footage does show clear evidence of workers abusing the animals, it is too grainy to verify the specific claims of sexual abuse made by the anonymous investigator.
Following the 2011 raid on a Butterball facility, the company took steps to rectify its image and became certified by the organization American Humane. A Butterball spokesperson confirmed certification began in 2013 and told Snopes the following:
Eleven years ago, Butterball was the first, and remains the only, turkey company to be American Humane certified. That means we have yearly audits conducted by a third party to ensure compliance with our 200+ science-based standards of best practice for care of turkeys, well exceeding industry best practices. We are proud of this designation that no other turkey company can claim and have a zero-tolerance policy for animal mistreatment.
Canavan referred to the American Humane certification as a "sham" and said that despite the designation, the company was "still doing many of the standard industry practices that... would not fit the expectation of a reasonable consumer for humane treatment."
In 2014, PETA filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for "humane washing," according to Canavan, hoping to affect the company's ability to advertise its products as humanely raised.
Butterball's website describes its commitment to animal welfare with the following:
At Butterball, we are committed to producing healthy, high-quality turkeys in a responsible way.
Simply, animal care and well-being are central to who we are as a company, and we are committed to maintaining the health and well-being of our turkeys. Butterball adheres to high standards of animal care and we're engaged in a stringent, zero-tolerance policy against any form of animal mistreatment.
Butterball follows all animal care guidelines set by American Humane™ and the National Turkey Federation, and continually assesses our policies, procedures, and new and emerging technologies.
A spokesperson for American Humane echoed this sentiment to Snopes, saying:
Butterball is certified by American Humane and has been since 2013. The video referenced is nearly 20 years old and predates American Humane certification. American Humane Certified Farms are involved in rigorous, independent, third-party audits. Our standards are guided by the latest science and evidence in animal welfare and are informed by a Scientific Advisory Committee made up of respected experts in farm animal care and humane treatment.
According to a 2020 edition of American Humane's "Animal Welfare Standards for Turkey," guidelines include statements like, "American Humane Certified™ Animal Welfare Standards for Turkeys do not require that birds have access to the outdoors," "birds must be lifted and then hung on the shackles by both legs," "turkeys must not be suspended for more than four minutes before they are stunned," "no more than 10 seconds may elapse between stunning and neck cutting," and "turkeys must not be immersed in a scalding tank or plucked until at least 90 seconds have elapsed since the major blood vessels in their necks have been severed."
We found no mention of sexual abuse or artificial insemination in the manual, but the document breaks down how American Humane auditors score their reviews of facilities, including the following statement:
Throughout the course of the audit, the auditor must not have observed farm personnel committing willful acts of abuse or neglect, which include but are not limited to kicking, throwing, yelling at, or purposefully scaring the birds, or neglecting to provide feed, water, or health care.
When Snopes checked with an FTC spokesperson about the 2014 complaint, the agency said that complaints made to the organization are not made public, and the FTC does not comment on the outcome of a complaint unless it leads to an "enforcement action." There have been no actions taken against Butterball for its use of the word "humane" in its advertising.
Snopes has investigated other animal welfare claims in the past, including abuse of calves at an Indiana farm, a bison calf that was euthanized after a "rescue" by Yellowstone tourists, animal abuse during the making of the film "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" and whether or not the Trump administration ended public access to puppy mill inspection reports.
Sources:
"11 Turkey Farm Workers Charged with Cruelty Caught on Video." AP News, 6 Oct. 2022, https://apnews.com/article/science-business-pennsylvania-animal-cruelty-people-for-the-ethical-treatment-of-animals-215ad0a211f604aaf4528836f9676c2c.
admin. "US: Carolina Turkeys Acquires ConAgra's Butterball." Just Food, 3 Oct. 2006, https://www.just-food.com/news/us-carolina-turkeys-acquires-conagras-butterball/.
Animal Welfare Standards for Turkeys. American Humane, 2020, https://www.americanhumane.org/app/uploads/2021/08/Turkey-Full-Standards.pdf.
Butterball House of Horrors. vimeo.com, https://vimeo.com/490290471. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
"Corporate Information." Butterball, 3 Oct. 2022, https://www.butterball.com/about-us/corporate-information.
"Ex-N.C. Turkey Farm Worker Pleads Guilty to Animal Cruelty." USATODAY.COM, http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/08/nc-turkey-farm-worker-pleads-guilty-to-animal-cruelty/1. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
Kindy, Kimberly. "PETA Wants 'Humanely Raised' Label Stripped from Butterball Turkeys." The Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2014/11/13/is-your-humanely-raised-butterball-turkey-really-so-humane/.
mercyforanimals. Butterball Abuse: Undercover Mercy For Animals Investigation Reveals Cruelty. 2011. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5LM06ZvCk4.
News, A. B. C. "Butterball Turkey Raided Amid Animal Abuse Allegations." ABC News, https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/butterball-turkey-raided-amid-animal-abuse-allegations/story?id=15249456. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
---. "Butterball Workers Arrested on Animal Cruelty Charges." ABC News, https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/butterball-workers-arrested-animal-cruelty-charges/story?id=15637180. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
"PETA Files FTC Complaint Over Inhumane Treatment of Butterball Birds." PETA, 13 Nov. 2014, https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/peta-files-ftc-complaint-inhumane-treatment-butterball-birds/.
POLITICO Pro: PETA Asks FTC to Stop Butterball 'Humane' Labeling: https://subscriber.politicopro.com/agriculture/whiteboard/2014/11/peta-asks-ftc-to-stop-butterball-humane-labeling-043835. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.
