Because low jolts produce the best meat quality the birds are very much at risk of regaining consciousness during bleed out and/or prior to the scald vat.
Again, the birds are immediately slitted and will not regain consciousness. I was standing near the manual slitter for 8 hours. Not a single bird was missed and continued into the scalder. It could be that he was extra diligent because I was there however I am highly doubtful as it the plant managers would easily be able to track which person did not do their job correctly and would deduct the loss product sales from his/her paycheck. It simply makes more sense to slit each and every bird properly.
Condemned animals are inspected and as long as there is no sign of disease or worry of making humans ill (drowned birds will not make humans ill) they can be and are released back into the line. The color of the meat is of little consequence in processed and packaged products where it can be dyed and flavored. The statistics for those birds that are drown in the scald vat are estimated to be more like 3% or 300 in 10,000 not 1 in 10,000, btw.
Correct, but I was assuming that we were speaking of whole bird products since the OP was going to purchase the entire bird. Parts of the birds that are not damaged by the scalding tank will be used in processed products. (Makes you want to eat those turkey sandwiches now huh?) Could you please cite your statistics? I'd be interested in reading the information.
There are more effective methods of high-capacity humane slaughter for poultry, but they're more expensive. And, as evidenced here, Americans like their cheap meat -- most going so far as to deny what indirect costs that cheap meat really comes at -- so the American slaughter industry is reluctant to employ them.
I honestly cannot understand why it is a huge ordeal? Animals being cared for in the industry are by far treated more humanely than those that must face predation, starvation, disease, etc. in other countries. Other countries do not care how the animal is killed, only that they are able to eat it. True, our nation shows more compassion but until something can be created that appeases both animal rights groups and industry, I sincerely doubt that anything will change drastically in the slaughter method. Other countries use gas to subdue animals, personally, I can think of nothing worse other than burning to death. Still yet others use no sort of stunning method, again, much like do-it-yourselfers, however most home-grown animals in the US are treated much better before dispatching than those from other countries.
Some prefer the taste of the homegrown birds, others prefer to know what was put into their birds. I prefer a cheap product that was inspected and is at least safer to eat than a bird that could have been exposed to endless amounts of diseases from wild birds, predators and poor flock integration. I also prefer to eat something that has been bled out properly and I know has not suffered unduly due to my own poor dispatching techniques which could ruin the meat entirely.
