Kroger Execs to Face Off With PETA Over Abused Turkeys

For Immediate Release:
June 22, 2022

Contact:
moira Colley 202-483-7382

Tomorrow, PETA will ask Kroger executives why Harris Teeter—a subsidiary of Kroger—still sells turkeys from Plainville Farms, even after PETA sent the company damning video footage from its undercover investigation revealing sexual abuse and cruelty to birds at Plainville suppliers. PETA’s question follows the group’s recent Kroger stock purchase.

Plainville workers were caught on video kicking and stomping on turkeys, simulating sex acts with injured and dying birds, throwing hens at one another like basketballs, and engaging in other forms of abuse. Prior to PETA’s investigation, Plainville was certified “humane” by Global Animal Partnership (GAP) and misled consumers by claiming that the turkeys were “free from harm”—which PETA’s investigation showed to be false. After the investigation, GAP suspended the company’s certification and Whole Foods pulled its turkey products.

“As its competitors rush to cut ties with Plainville Farms, Harris Teeter knowingly stocks its shelves with flesh from a company whose workers beat and kicked birds,” says PETA Director of Corporate Responsibility Laura Shields. “PETA is calling on Kroger to reconsider its business relationship with this disreputable company.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s shareholder question follows.

Hi. I’m with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA. Kroger’s subsidiary Harris Teeter continues to sell Plainville Farms turkey products, even though PETA sent the company footage showing Plainville Farms workers choking, throwing, and stomping on birds as well as hitting them with an iron bar. Some workers used the birds’ bodies to mimic sex acts.

One crew position was called the “kick,” because kicking was that person’s role in loading the birds onto trucks. Workers berated PETA’s investigator for not kicking or otherwise abusing turkeys, telling him that he should get a new job if he wouldn’t do things the “right” way.

Egregious abuse was documented at Plainville Farms, which rightfully lost its Global Animal Partnership certification. Yet Harris Teeter continues to sell Plainville Farms products, even those featuring a bogus “humane” label. When will Kroger’s subsidiaries, especially Harris Teeter, reconsider their business ties to the cruelty documented at Plainville Farms?