Sanderson Farms ‘All Natural’ Chicken Tests Positive for Ketamine

Seriously, it seems like there’s no end to what foreign substances end up in meat. Nearly all ground beef contains poop, and chowing down on a hot dog could mean eating everything from heart muscle to lips.

Now, reports are coming out that ketamine—the same drug that teenage rave-going hedonists hallucinate on—has been found in a chicken item marketed as “all natural.”

Consumer advocacy groups are in the midst of a lawsuit against Sanderson Farms, Inc., after chicken samples from multiple facilities tested positive for ketamine and other “questionable substances,” as reported by Bloomberg News.

Oh, it gets worse.

Out of 69 separate inspections of Sanderson Farms’ locations, plaintiffs reported that in 49 instances, “samples tested positive for residues that are not ‘100% Natural.’” The antibiotic chloramphenicol—which is known to cause bone-marrow suppression in humans and is illegal to use on animals that will become food—was among the substances found.

Samples also tested positive for traces of opioids, pesticides, and illegal growth hormone.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), “all natural” means only that items do not contain artificial ingredients or preservatives and that the ingredients are only minimally processed. Antibiotics, growth hormones, and other similar chemicals are just fine by the USDA’s standards.

Sanderson Farms claims to be the third largest poultry producer in the U.S. and supplies chicken to Kroger, Sysco, and Arby’s, among other businesses.

What do you expect from a company that grinds up live baby chicks?

In 2016, PETA released footage taken by an eyewitness who worked at a massive Sanderson Farms, Inc., hatchery in North Carolina. Among other atrocities, video footage revealed that unwanted chicks born later than expected were left to languish before finally being ground up alive.

“All natural” means “jack all” on a factory farm.

The word “natural” may as well be the exact opposite of factory farming. Chickens raised for their flesh—called “broilers” by the chicken industry—spend their entire lives in filthy sheds without access to sunlight, fresh air, or anything else that they would enjoy in nature. They’re bred to grow so large, so quickly that their legs and hearts often give out before they even make it to the slaughterhouse. Chickens are crammed so close together that the intense crowding and confinement lead to injuries and outbreaks of disease.

While chickens can function well in small groups, in which each bird is able to find his or her spot in the pecking order, it’s virtually impossible for them to establish a social structure in such large numbers. Because of this, the frustrated birds often peck at one another relentlessly, causing injury and even death.

Fed up with drugged, suffering animals?

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