Tyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals.
Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022.
According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn gallons of wastewater – which also contains blood, bacteria and animal feces – and released directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands relied on for drinking water, fishing and recreation. The UCS analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, is based on the most recent publicly available water pollution data Tyson is required to report under current regulations.
Tyson isn’t quite as an oppressive powerhouse in the Delmarva areas, but Perdue and Moutaire operates the same way.
Their claim to fame on the eastern shore is actually when they pulled out of Maryland and closed their feed mill and processing plant instead of competing. Everyone that was dependent on their chicken contracts got left holding their loans from starting their operations. Less pollution in the bay that way though.
The entire industry is designed to force externalities (like pollution and farmer loans) onto other people while ensuring a healthy margin at all points. Even if you don’t look at the animal rights angle it’s exploitative as fuck.