Whistleblower: Battered Chickens Decapitated Alive at ‘Humane’ Meat Supplier to Kroger, Safeway

For Immediate Release:
May 9, 2025

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Harrisonburg, Va. –

A veteran meat industry insider is blowing the whistle, turning to PETA for help addressing what they allege is abusive handling of chickens so severe that the birds suffer injuries, and endure botched killings—including pulling off the heads of conscious birds—at Farmer Focus, a Virginia supplier to Kroger, Publix, Safeway, Harris Teeter, Farm Fresh, The Fresh Market, and ButcherBox. The whistleblower, who supplied PETA with photos and video footage reportedly taken inside the facility, has alleged that the corporation—also known as Shenandoah Valley Organic—is “defrauding” consumers, who pay higher prices for their products because of their sham “humane” and “animal welfare certified” labels.

*The whistleblower indicated that birds were “slammed” and caught in cage trays during transport, breaking and bruising their wings and legs.*

The whistleblower’s report includes the following allegations:

As they approach an automated blade that is supposed to cut their throats, conscious birds struggle frantically, frequently causing them to be slashed on their faces and bodies. Untrained backup employees often botch the manual cutting of these birds’ throats, and “in many cases,” birds are still alive and aware when their heads are pulled off.
Chickens’ wings are bruised and broken, and dislocated—as the whistleblower’s photographs and videos indicate—as a result of the birds being “slammed” and trapped in cage trays during transport.
The electrical “stunning bath” is overfilled—causing some birds to drown—and its voltage is so improperly managed that birds are subjected to ineffective electroshocks.
Chickens endure prolonged and agonizing deaths because of these chronic deficiencies in the slaughter process.

PETA met with Farmer Focus executives in person this week to share the video and photo evidence provided by the whistleblower, but the executives refused to commit to any action to prevent cruelty to chickens from occurring at the slaughterhouse and on contract farms and declined to say if they already knew about such abuses.

“Farmer Focus executives didn’t even bat an eye when presented with evidence that suffering birds with ‘bruised,’ ‘broken’ and ‘disjointed’ wings endured agonizing deaths at this hellhole for animals,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on Kroger, Safeway, and other chains to reconsider their ties with this operation and reminds consumers that the only humane option is vegan.”

According to the whistleblower, Farmer Focus intentionally overstocks massive sheds with birds and some contract farmers deliberately startle them, which leads to “prevalent and acute” rates of deep pectoral myopathy, turning their breast tissue green, as shown in the photos the whistleblower provided PETA; “knowingly defraud[s]” consumers by “consistently” putting the incorrect farm ID codes on its “traceable” products and mislabels other products; and has severe rodent and termite infestations, buckling ceilings, and sewage drains that back up and flood, causing a “horrific” odor and contaminated water to flood onto the production floor at the Harrisonburg slaughterhouse.

Farmer Focus’s slaughterhouse kills approximately 600,000 chickens per week. PETA has submitted formal complaints to federal authorities about the company’s reportedly widespread, chronic noncompliance with federal regulations and industry standards.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.