What "Organic" Actually Means for a Chicken
- Sarah Borell
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Note: This post describes conditions documented in an undercover investigation of a commercial chicken farm. The details are factual and not gratuitous, but readers who find accounts of animal cruelty distressing may want to be aware before reading on.
Organic chicken costs, on average, more than twice the price of conventional chicken. For many consumers, that premium represents a choice: not just about food quality, but about values. The assumption behind the purchase is that the animal had a meaningfully better life.
A new undercover investigation, released on 29 July 2026 by the nonprofit Mercy For Animals, documents what life actually looked like at one certified organic chicken farm in North Carolina that supplies Costco via major poultry processor Pilgrim's Pride. The farm was not operating outside the responsible food system. It held both USDA organic certification and humane certification from the American Humane Society. That is what makes the findings so difficult to set aside as an anomaly.
What the Investigation Found
An undercover investigator worked at the farm for roughly two and a half months earlier in 2026. During that time, he documented the following conditions and practices.
Birds were housed in crowded, unsanitary barns. Ammonia levels, which must remain below 25 parts per million under organic certification rules, were recorded reaching at least 100 parts per million in one barn, the highest the measuring device could register. At those levels, ammonia causes respiratory damage and can lead to blindness in birds.
Sick and injured chickens, including birds with open wounds, twisted necks, and legs unable to support their own weight, were documented being left without veterinary care. Many were left alive among dead birds in what are known in the industry as deadpiles.
The farm manager was documented bludgeoning birds with PVC pipes and rakes as a method of euthanasia, with the investigator describing this as a daily occurrence. Baby chicks were documented being buried alive in compost while still moving and audibly chirping.
Despite the farm having outdoor infrastructure, the investigator reported that birds never had access to it during his employment, a direct violation of USDA organic certification requirements. The farm manager reportedly attributed this to a weather exemption from Pilgrim's Pride, although the investigator noted there were no significant weather events during his time on the farm.
Mercy For Animals has filed a legal complaint with authorities following the investigation and documented more than 70 instances of what it describes as improper euthanasia. The organisation's president described the footage as unlike anything he had reviewed in its history.
The Response
Pilgrim's Pride stated it was deeply disturbed by the conduct documented, dropped the farm as a supplier, and announced additional third-party audits across its supply network. The American Humane Society said it had launched an independent investigation into the farm's certification. The farm, organic certifier Hiland Global Certifications, and Costco did not respond to detailed questions from reporters.
Pilgrim's Pride dropping the farm as a supplier is a predictable response to investigations of this kind. It is also, critics note, an insufficient one. Such cruelty has been found over and over again in the US poultry industry, including numerous past investigations of farms that supply Pilgrim's Pride.
Dropping one farm and sourcing from another does not address the underlying conditions that produced the documented behaviour. This is the second time in five years that a Mercy For Animals investigation has connected serious welfare violations to Costco's chicken supply chain. After the 2021 investigation, Costco publicly committed to improving animal welfare standards. The 2026 investigation found no meaningful enforceable change had followed.
The Label Problem
The farm at the centre of this investigation was not operating outside any oversight framework. It was operating within one, and the oversight failed.
USDA organic certification legally requires more space, fresh air, outdoor access, and improved conditions relative to conventional farming. On paper, those requirements represent a genuine step up. In practice, the certification relies on periodic audits, which at this farm appear to have missed or accepted conditions that directly contravened the rules. The organic certifier declined to respond to questions.
Humane certification from the American Humane Society is a separate layer of assurance, marketed to consumers as an additional guarantee of welfare standards. This farm held that certification throughout the period documented in the investigation.
The predictable response to an investigation like this is to focus entirely on the farm: was this particular supplier unusually bad? Did an inspector miss something? Should someone be fired? Those are fair questions, but the problem runs deeper.
At every step of this supply chain, from the farm to the certifiers to the corporate buyers, serious animal welfare violations appear to have gone undetected or unaddressed. That is not a story about one bad farm. It is a story about whether the oversight mechanisms consumers rely on are functioning as advertised.
The Structural Issue
There is a broader context worth understanding here. The commercial chicken industry in the United States and many other countries breeds birds specifically to grow as fast as possible. Modern broiler chickens reach slaughter weight in approximately six weeks, roughly twice the rate of 50 years ago. That rate of growth creates inherent welfare problems: birds that develop leg deformities, cardiovascular problems, and difficulty walking or reaching food and water. These issues are present across conventional and organic production alike, because the breed is the same.
Several European countries have begun moving away from fast-growing breeds in commercial production. The US poultry industry and major retailers have largely resisted that shift, despite sustained pressure from welfare organisations.
The documentary Big Chicken: A Fast Food Conspiracy, currently streaming on Netflix, follows comedian Mo Gilligan through a 28-day investigation into the fried chicken industry across the UK and the US. It covers much of the same territory from a consumer perspective and is worth watching alongside the Mercy For Animals investigation for a broader picture of how this industry operates.
What Consumers Can Do
The honest answer is that individual consumer choices operate within a system that is not well designed to reward them. Organic certification is not meaningless, but this investigation demonstrates that the label does not guarantee the conditions it implies. Third-party humane certification has the same limitation.
A few things that are worth knowing:
Slower-growing chicken breeds have significantly better welfare outcomes. Some certification schemes, including the Global Animal Partnership's Step 3 and above standards, require slower-growing breeds, more space, and better environmental conditions. These are more meaningful markers than organic or humane labels alone.
Reducing consumption of factory-farmed poultry is the most direct lever available to individual consumers. For those who continue to purchase chicken, looking specifically for slower-growing breed certification and smaller, verifiable supply chains carries more weight than organic or humane labelling by itself.
Advocacy matters at the policy level. The conditions documented in this investigation are not illegal in most US states. Changing that requires legislative action, which responds to sustained public pressure.
Why This Matters Beyond Chickens
Chickens are, by number, the most farmed land animal on Earth. Approximately 70 billion are slaughtered globally each year. In Australia, around 650 million chickens are farmed annually for meat. They are also among the least protected by law, in part because they are not covered by the main federal animal cruelty legislation in the United States and receive limited protection in Australia as well.
The Mercy For Animals investigation is confronting not because it reveals something unusual, but because it documents, in detail, what standard industry practice looks like when no one is watching. The wall built at the Jordan slaughterhouse to block investigators comes to mind. So does the organic label on the packaging.
The gap between the image and the reality is the story. It has been the story for a long time.
