PETA to Grill Kroger Execs Over Cruelty to Chickens, Turkeys

At Company's Annual Meeting, Group Will Call for Less Cruel, More Profitable Slaughter Method

For Immediate Release:
June 23, 2010

Contact:
Lindsay Rajt 757-622-7382

Cincinnati -- A representative of PETA--which is a Kroger shareholder--will grill executives at the company's annual meeting in Cincinnati tomorrow. The group wants to determine what plans Kroger has to move toward a less cruel method of poultry slaughter called "controlled-atmosphere killing" (CAK):

When:  Thursday, June 24, 11 a.m.

Where:  Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 Elm St., Cincinnati

"Kroger may be an industry leader in sales revenue, but when it comes to the treatment of chickens and turkeys, the company is lagging far behind," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Consumers care about animal welfare, so the best thing that any business can do is to take action to reduce animal abuse."

Currently birds who are killed for Kroger are dumped onto conveyor belts and slammed upside down by their legs into metal shackles--a procedure that often results in broken wings and broken legs. Birds are still conscious when their throats are cut, and many are then scalded to death in defeathering tanks. All these abuses can be eliminated by using CAK, a method in which the oxygen that chickens and turkeys breathe is slowly replaced with a nonpoisonous gas that puts the birds "to sleep" while they are still in their transport crates.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.