Advocacy group responds to deceptive Texas egg farm investigation video

Texas Farm Bureau: Fed Up With Humane Society and Other Animal Rights Activist Groups Who Mislead Consumers

Waco, TX (1888PressRelease) November 18, 2010 - Publications Director of the Texas Farm Bureau Mike Barnett says the Humane Society of the United States' recently-released undercover report/video of an egg production facility in Texas misleads consumers into believing there is a major problem with animal abuse and food safety in the United States in his latest Texas Agriculture Talks blog post.

"On one hand I'm sick of those bad players in the livestock industry who mistreat their animals," writes Barnett. "On the other, I'm sick of the animal rights activist groups who promote these isolated incidents as an indictment of the entire meat and egg industry."

He adds that animal rights groups like the Humane Society of the United States-instead of harboring a real concern for animals-use terms like "animal abuse" and "food safety" to mask their real intention, which is to get consumers to stop eating meat in oftentimes forceful and deceptive ways. While Barnett acknowledges that the livestock industry has not been perfect, most producers are believers in animal welfare. They believe in the proper and humane use of animals and that they have a duty to treat animals properly.

"The small number of producers who abuse the privilege of raising and caring for food animals give a black eye to those who do it right. There is no excuse for animal cruelty," explains Barnett. And there's no excuse for misleading consumers the way some groups are doing today."

For more, read Barnett's blog post on Texas animal welfare, visit the Texas Ag Talks blog.