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May 15 2008
Is Tyson's Antibiotic-Free Chicken Really Antibiotic-Free?

EggsA federal judge has ordered Tyson Foods to withdraw advertisements claiming its chickens are “raised without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans.”

Two competitors said the ads were untrue because Tyson injects it eggs with antibiotics and used antibiotic molecules in its feed.

Tyson maintained that its claim was truthful, and intends to appeal the decision.

“The claim we’re making is ‘raised without.’ And our consumer research would say that ‘raised without’ in the consumer’s mind, is from hatchery to when they buy the chicken in the store,” said Dave Hogberg, senior vice president for consumer products at Tyson.

Dr. MercolaDr. Mercola's Comments:

Tyson’s claim may be technically true -- which makes it just about the worst kind of deceptive advertising there can be without simply lying.

When they say that their eggs come from chickens that are “raised without antibiotics”, they are clearly trying to give the impression that the eggs are antibiotics-free.  In fact, this is not the case at all; even if their chickens are “raised” without antibiotics (although that also may be a deceptive claim anyway, since there seems to be some evidence that there are antibiotics in their feed), the eggs still have antibiotics injected into them before they reach the stores. 

Tyson’s attempt to weasel around that fact is nothing more than semantics.

Sad to say, this is nothing but typical behavior when it comes to big business.  Whenever a packaged food or a large retailer makes a health claim, your first reaction should be suspicion.

The Truth About Splenda Isn’t Sweet

Another example of this kind of deception is the marketing campaign of the artificial sweetener Splenda.  They would dearly like you to believe that their product is natural because it is “made from sugar”. Well this simply is another “half truth” meant to convince you of a falsehood, and the Sugar Association has sued them for this marketing strategy.

Although the process for developing Splenda starts with a sugar molecule, chlorine molecules are added to it. Splenda shares many similar characteristics to pesticides like DDT that can accumulate in your body fat and tissues. It is impossible to predict the long-term consequences of ingesting this substance over many years.

Splenda is in fact not natural at all, and it has been linked to a number of toxic side effects including shrunken thymus glands (up to 40 percent shrinkage), enlarged liver and kidneys, reduced growth rate, aborted pregnancy and diarrhea.

I encourage you to review my extensive Splenda testimonials pages, which are filled with heartbreaking stories about the toxic effects this artificial sweetener may inflict. Nearly every month, we receive a report from someone who has had an adverse reaction to Splenda, and after reading just a few of the submitted testimonials it's likely you won't ever want to look at it again!

7-Up Isn’t Picked Fresh Off a Tree

Meanwhile, 7-Up manufacturer Cadbury Schwepps has begun an ad campaign that promotes the soda as "100 percent natural" and pictures cans of 7-Up being picked from fruit trees.  The Center for Science in the Public Interest has threatened to sue Cadbury Schwepps if the all-natural claim is not dropped, calling it a misleading untruth.

One thing many people don’t know is that for many foods, there isn’t any strict legal definition of what counts as "natural."  Foods including potato chips, ice cream and cookies can be labeled as natural without it meaning anything at all.

When it comes to 7-up, CSPI has argued high fructose corn syrup is not natural. You couldn't make it in your own kitchen unless you happen to own centrifuges, hydroclones, ion-exchange columns, and buckets of enzymes. And as far as the cans being picked off the tree goes, there isn’t even any fruit juice in 7-Up.

Make Sure Your Food Really is Natural

Folks, I could go on and on without end, giving examples of this sort of behavior by big business.  Farm-raised fish put into overcrowded pens where disease and parasites like sea lice flourish, fed synthetic diets that wild fish would never eat, are called “organic”.  Pepsi, like 7-Up, is also making ridiculous health claims for its unhealthy products.

If you really want to be sure your food is healthy, organic, and safe, you might want to try avoiding grocery stores altogether. More and more people are buying food fresh off the farm from producers they personally know and trust, through CSA’s (Community Supported Agriculture), farmers’ markets, or other local food movements. When you can actually go visit the farm itself, you can see that it’s natural, fresh, and exactly as advertised.  If you want to get started on this, there are plenty of organizations around to help you out.


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Community Comments ( 31 )
Comment on this Article
  
  
Amicus Curiae1
[ Joined on 02/08 ] [ Posted on May 15, 2008 ]
19 Points        
   
 
Novice User

i have worked on egg farms in aust, our chooks laid into deep sawdust litter and did have plenty of room to run scratch and play , albeit undercover, fresh air and sunshine  from good large "window shutters. i was thinking this was a sick joke...injecting eggs? as nature intended it to be  a sealed sterile womb for a chick, it should be safe. the implication is  cramped, unhealthy animals in unhygenic conditions, as stated ,eating their own kind as meal, and delevoping salmonella for one, listeria as another, to be breaking that seal to inject antibiotics "in case??" strikes me as possible the most lunatic thing..

.then i think of the pig farm i worked on..(1 day!).ummm newborn piglets being injected with antibiotics, tails burnt off, teeth cut off with pliers, ears slashed as markers, and this is "worlds best practice" with all those wounds, no wonder they get ill, add a mother who is unable to turn round or move away from her young , who is bred every cycle.. its up to us to stop buying from these people , stop taking their money as wages, and eat less, but eat better, and support small caring companies.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
seg
[ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on April 25, 2008 ]
10 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Did you say "another knockout"???????

Tyson ain't the only culprit out  there, just happens they are the one that got caught, there are many, many more out there only time will tell......
Most of the bigger organisations are concerned with the bottom line and pleasing their share holders, so cutting corners are not new to them......Stick to the local guy you can trust and you can't go wrong, work with them if need be........
 [ Reply ]
  
  
JWRM42
[ Joined on 02/07 ] [ Posted on April 25, 2008 ]
10 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Another big company lieing to the general public. What a shame.

The egg is injected with antibiotics. It has antibiotics in it.

The chick hatchs and eats antibiotic feed. The chick has antibiotics in it.

The chicken gets slaughtered. The chicken has antibiotics in it.

We eat chicken. We get antibiotics in us!

Sorry to point out the obvious, but it was just nagging me!

42
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
lively
[ Joined on 12/06 ]  [ Posted on May 4, 2008]
3 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola
" It is surprising how some people look at a backward state like
Arkansas,
and yet do not wonder about the so-called great fortunes headquartered
there. Tyson Chickens. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and all their
subsidiaries,
and J.B. Hunt Transport Services,
Inc."

Savory chicken business:
http://www.skolnicksreport.com/rcsp.html

  
  
Paul Tolnai
[ Joined on 12/06 ] [ Posted on May 15, 2008 ]
9 Points        
   
 
Novice User

Are you sure about the 7-up story. I understand that 7-up is being grown on organic farms down in Costa Rica - and picked by hand.

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Suzy50
[ Joined on 10/06 ]  [ Posted on May 15, 2008]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Yeah 7-up is hand picked in Costa Rica. That's so funny, thanks for the chuckle.

  
  
corgi
[ Joined on 06/07 ] [ Posted on May 15, 2008 ]
9 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I am surrounded by Perdue chicken houses and a processing plant. i can hit one of the chicken houses by tossing a rock from my back yard.  I also subcontracted some work at the perdue rendering plant and learned all about thier feed system that uses slaughtered chicken wastes/additives to feed the chicks that you eat, ad infinitem/ad nauseum. If you lived in this environment you would give up chicken forever. its all gross. for the unknowing among us...chickens dont grow on trees, they are dead animals when you ingest them with loads of chemical additives and preservatives.  mmmm, have another buffalo wing before you leave for your next dr. appt. so you wont be hungry as you pick up your chemical rx's.

live long and prosper or stay sick and support the medical system that relies on keeping your sick.....

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
TiaIsWorried
[ Joined on 05/08 ]  [ Posted on May 15, 2008]
3 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Sorry to hear this is prevalent in the poultry industry too.

Grinding up spare cow parts and then feeding to the current herd is what led to Mad Cow Disease.

But for bad practices in food prep, I learned LONG ago:  if you like the food at a restaurant, stay OUT of the kitchen.

Same is true for all I guess

  
  
Pythonesk
[ Joined on 11/07 ] [ Posted on May 15, 2008 ]
8 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I've never seen Tyson eggs in the store.  I've seen Tyson chicken, but not eggs.  Dr. Mercola says: " the eggs still have antibiotics injected into them before they reach the stores."  I think maybe he got the wrong end of the stick here.

We raise our own chicken and eggs on our 7 acres in the country.  I belong to several online forums for raising healthy meat & eggs, so allow me to pass on some information.

The chickens that you buy in the store are a highly specialized breed called a Cornish Cross.  They are a mere 6 weeks old when they are slaughtered.  Compared to heritage breed chickens they are babies.  Heritage breed chickens in comparison are bony, tough and scrawny.  The consumer wants and expects these big, fat, mushy chickens with lots of breast meat.  At six weeks of age a heritage breed wouldn't be worth the time and effort of killing, plucking, gutting, cleaning, etc...

A "Cornish Game Hen" is merely the same Cornish Cross chicken slaughtered at a younger age, probably 4 weeks.  There is no other difference.

Since supermarket chickens reach slaughter age so quickly there is very little, if any, need for antibiotics.  The truth is that none of the big chicken producers are feeding antibiotics.  The reason is that the Cornish cross (often called a Frankenchicken) grows SO quickly, has an enormous appetite, and an incredible feed conversion ratio that there is no need to feed antibiotics.

It is pork and beef that are fed large amounts of antibiotics.  Chickens are not because there is no need.

I've never heard of injecting eggs with anything, but I guess they do.  However, this one tiny dose, given before hatching, would certainly have little effect to the consumer.  The truth is that we consumers have demanded cheap food and that is what they are giving us.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
curlilox
[ Joined on 08/07 ] [ Posted on April 25, 2008 ]
7 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
It seems to me that this is another case of definitions, like it depends on what definition of the word "is" is.
This is so sad that walking in integrity is close to obsolete!  It is hard to find people who will stand and speak Truth.
 [ Reply ]
  
  
Capt. Awesome
[ Joined on 08/07 ] [ Posted on May 15, 2008 ]
6 Points        
   
 
Novice User

Back when I was just Lt. Awesome, I used to eat the grocery store chicken thinking it was good for me.  I'm surprised I ever made Captain thinking like that.  I now only buy pork at the grocery store, and that is fed raw to my dogs.  I'm lucky enough to have an organic, free-range chicken outfit nearby, so I not only can buy it locally, but for a remarkably reasonable price.  I'm also lucky enough to have cousins who raise grass-fed, no drug beef, so I buy that by the side from them, and being here in Michigan, we hunt and eat a lot of deer and rabbits.

I'm considering buying my very own 7-Up tree to plant in my back yard.  Do you think the cans that grow on the tree are returnable for a deposit?

Basically, it seems that anything you're buying from a mega-corporation is going to be laced w/ things that are bad for you.  It doesn't really matter if this is due to pure economics or pure evil, the point is the only things you should be buying at grocery store should probably not be put into your body.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
bethhoxie
[ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on May 15, 2008 ]
4 Points        
   
 
Novice User

Reading labels, now we need to decipher them.  Another reason why we need to find a good family farm to get our meats, dairy and other foods.

Beth in Detroit

 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
tamnadia72
[ Joined on 10/07 ]  [ Posted on May 15, 2008]
3 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

bethhoxie,

Maitland Family Farms:  small herds of Piedmontese crossbreds; all animals properly fed, watered, and housed, slaughtered humanely.  I am a vegetarian, dietarily and ethically, but I've spoken with the farmer, and I appreciate his methods.  Nature's Premier Organic(Frankenmuth) chicken and eggs is a certified poultry company, and Thomas Organic Creamery(Henderson) produces Jersey cow dairy products.  All of these may be found at farmers markets in Macomb and Oakland counties, and at some health food stores all over Michigan.  Hope I helped.

  
  
Aaltrude
[ Joined on 04/07 ] [ Posted on April 25, 2008 ]
4 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Once again, the answer is to eat indepently certified organic food.
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Aaltrude
[ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on April 26, 2008]
9 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
That should read - independently. ( I wish there was a button that allowed you to correct spelling mistakes and typos).
Mercola
  
alm260
[ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on May 14, 2008]
2 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola

Certified organic meat is great, but what's better is organic meat that is grass-fed only (or mostly).  Some people forget this important fact.  Thank God for the local farmers!

Mercola
  
Pythonesk
[ Joined on 11/07 ]  [ Posted on May 15, 2008]
10 Points