A nearly year-old claim that turkeys from the company Butterball were sexually abused before being slaughtered and packaged for food circulated online just days before Thanksgiving in late November Multiple videos on TikTok shared the claim. One user replied, saying, "Why is this allowed!? The group shared a video clip of a investigation into a Butterball factory in which the anonymous investigator alleges, "One guy humped a shackled turkey one day, and another time, another worker was putting his fingers in a turkey's cloaca, which is basically her vagina, while the line was stopped.
Sexual abuse was not the only accusation that appeared in the clip but also physical abuse, like punching, kicking, breaking bones, dismembering limbs, crushing turkeys under vehicles and more. A Butterball spokesperson told Snopes:. We are aware of a video from nearly 20 years ago, which is being re-shared across social media. This video is not current and was taken prior to Butterball becoming a private company and prior to our engagement and certification through American Humane.
Animal care and well-being is central to who we are as a company, and we are committed to the ethical and responsible care of our flocks. Food industry B2B publication Just Food reported at the time that the company "acquired more than 3, employees and five processing plants.
PETA confirmed to Snopes that the clip is indeed from an undercover investigation in , which was not disclosed in the Instagram post. PETA also said it did not have a more recent Butterball investigation to cite.
H owever, the group referred to investigations into Butterball done by other animal-rights organizations, like Mercy for Animals, as well as more recent investigations by PETA into competing turkey companies, like Plainville Farms.
