Tyson Chicken Caught Making False Antibiotic-Free Claims

June 3rd, 2008 • Related • Filed Under
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Still another blatant example of marketing deliberately meant to mislead and take advantage of consumers.

After being brought to court by competing companies, and losing their subsequent appeal, Tyson has agreed to voluntarily stop labeling their chicken products as” free of antibiotics.”

Competitors claim the Tyson ads untrue because:

  • Tyson injects it eggs with antibiotics, and
  • uses antibiotic molecules in its feed.

Tyson maintains its claim truthful, that the chickens are, indeed, “raised without” antibiotics.

But the courts ruled the ads misleading, stating that “raised without” in the consumer’s mind, means that they would not be exposed to antibiotics should they consume the chicken. Even though the Tyson chickens are never directly injected with antibiotics, the eggs are, and their feed is. This exposure causes the antibiotics to be present in the chicken meat itself.

Here is Tyson’s original public announcement from June 2007. Pretty convincing, don’t you think?

All Tyson® Brand Fresh Chicken to be “Raised Without Antibiotics”; Products available to mainstream consumers at an affordable price.

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  1. Comment by no imageFrank (Who am I?) on 4 June 2008:

    It’s really hard to know who to trust these days. I try to shop frugally. I thought I was getting a good deal with this chicken, compared to some of the other brands free of antibiotics, like Bell and Evans.

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  2. Comment by no imageMike (Who am I?) on 8 June 2008:

    Good golly. Hair-splitting aside, Tyson was clearly trying to deceive consumers. That’s naughty!

    Mikes last blog post..Should you let yourself take a “break” from being cheap?

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