I've just come across the new food documentary of "Supersize me 2: Holy chicken", from Morgan Spurlock who produced the original food/health documentary called “Super size me” many years ago, where he lived on McDonalds meals 3 times a day and had doctors tracking his health before and during the documentary. The findings of this experiment were amazing and scary.
In this new documentary, he wants to open his own healthy fast food restaurant, based on chicken. He chose chicken because its lean (but we know that doesn't make it healthy!) and cheap (maybe not now with the chicken massacre going on due to the alleged bird flu infections).
It was interesting to see the decision-making process of deciding the chickens, the farming, meals and ingredients were more based on market trends and marketing terms, rather than being healthy.
The chosen chicken breed for meat is ready for the table in just 6 WEEKS, when not long ago it used to take 16-20 weeks. The poultry growers claim that growth hormones in chick is a myth... I'm not so sure about that in some countries. The chickens were growing so fast that they had bald patches, because their feather growth couldn't keep up with their incredibly fast growth rate. At 6 weeks old the chickens were 6 lb (2.7 kilos), and even when younger, the chickens could barely stand up to support their bodyweight. They spent most of their time sitting down and not moving around. The high growth rate caused many of the mega-chickens to die from heart disease and heart attacks. That's what happens to us humans too from a too-high carb diet. But the farmer growing his chickens said if they weren't dying from heart attacks, he would know they were not growing fast enough, so it was a good thing.
A vet performed an autopsy on some of the dead birds at 6 weeks old, and found necrosis in the hip joint, which he said was very common in these fast growing birds. He also found brittle bones, bent bones due to high body weight, and heart failure.
The US National Chicken Council, the "Big Chicken" lobby group of the industry, was described by one farmer in the documentary as being "a large mafia", as the organisation controls every aspect of the industry, from the breed, incubating the eggs, supplying hatchlings, feed, medications, and even encourages competition amongst growers to produce the biggest and best birds, for a reward of increased payments over other chicken farmers. And the farmers have no say in anything. If a farmer speaks out, the industry can make it impossible for them to make a profit to drive the farmer out of the system. An informer from the organisation explained that expensive upgrades to the chicken farms were forced onto the farmers, to keep them in debt and to have control over them.
Morgan wanted to market his chickens as "free range". The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) definition of "free-range" chicken means that the chickens are ALLOWED to have 51% access to daytime outside their sheds, but the chickens don't actually have to go outside. So he built a small 1 meter radius semicircle arc of a fence in the doorway of his massive shed, which could potentially allow a couple of his thousands of chickens to venture outside, but they didn't. But he could still call the meat as "free-range".
Another misleading term used in chickens is "cage-free", but chickens grown for meat in the US have never been raised in cages (unlike chickens that are produced for their eggs, where cages are very common). Another misleading term is "humanely raised", for which there are no guidelines as to what this actually means!
Marketing of foods in the documentary was also interesting, in using specific terms to make the foods or meals appear healthier when they are not. After coming up with some sample chicken "sandwiches" (actually a burger!) Morgan asked his marketing consultants "how healthy is a sandwich?", and everyone laughed...
He wanted to use the term "organic" to market his chicken in meals, but the chicken feed wasn't organic. It was mostly based on grains with corn then soy meal as the main ingredients, but also included pork meat and a massive shopping list of other ingredients including mould (Aspergillis) and a heap of anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial ingredients (oregano oil, garlic oil, clove oil and more), which actually cause dysbiosis (an imbalance of the gut microbiome) and this actually helps them put on more weight!
So since he can't call his chickens organic, he tried "all natural" instead, but an expert says that this is the most misleading claim in meat products. Consumers seem to think that "all natural" is similar to or is the same as "organic" in its meaning. It has nothing to do with what the animals are fed or their growing environment or whether they are given medications or antibiotics. According to the USDA, "all natural" means "minimally processed" and "no artificial ingredients" These guidelines only need to be applied AFTER the animal is killed.
In the US, poultry cannot be given hormones to make them grow faster, but producers still make the claim in their marketing or labelling that the chicken is "hormone-free".
So he can (and did) call his chicken meat products as "free range, cage-free, no hormones added, humanely-raised, 100% natural", and this could get the USDA's seal of approval! And Morgan quoted "that's some pretty good bullsh1t right there!". And the USDA don't have a budget to test or check anything, so they just rubber stamp everything.
The majority of the documentary was to highlight the ridiculousness of the wording used in the production and marketing of fast food products, and how marketing consultants can make up things to make food appear better or healthier, when they really aren't. And such companies get away with it, and people buy the BS. There was nothing in the documentary about the actual nutrition of these foods, or how they affect your health. With all this BS marketing, people think they can eat anything they want. And food companies use these techniques of human behaviour to suck you in and to increase their sales.
Morgan interviewed a professor of nutrition and he asked "what if there was a company who was completely honest with their customers?", to which she looked confused and said "why would they want to do that"!
Hilariously, Morgan used a lot of honest statements about the chickens and the industry in his marketing in the new restaurant including:
Morgan is at least very open and honest about everything, no doubt to the disgust of the "big chicken" industry. And the customers are shocked but loving his message. 4 days after opening the restaurant, several investors called him to want to franchise the brand all across the US! But it was just a short-term venture to get the message out to the public about the chicken industry and to make the documentary.
And the chicken farmers started lawsuits against the "big chicken" companies.
I recommend to watch the full "Super size me 2: Holy Chicken" documentary on your favourite streaming channel.
Stay healthy!
In this new documentary, he wants to open his own healthy fast food restaurant, based on chicken. He chose chicken because its lean (but we know that doesn't make it healthy!) and cheap (maybe not now with the chicken massacre going on due to the alleged bird flu infections).
It was interesting to see the decision-making process of deciding the chickens, the farming, meals and ingredients were more based on market trends and marketing terms, rather than being healthy.
The chosen chicken breed for meat is ready for the table in just 6 WEEKS, when not long ago it used to take 16-20 weeks. The poultry growers claim that growth hormones in chick is a myth... I'm not so sure about that in some countries. The chickens were growing so fast that they had bald patches, because their feather growth couldn't keep up with their incredibly fast growth rate. At 6 weeks old the chickens were 6 lb (2.7 kilos), and even when younger, the chickens could barely stand up to support their bodyweight. They spent most of their time sitting down and not moving around. The high growth rate caused many of the mega-chickens to die from heart disease and heart attacks. That's what happens to us humans too from a too-high carb diet. But the farmer growing his chickens said if they weren't dying from heart attacks, he would know they were not growing fast enough, so it was a good thing.
A vet performed an autopsy on some of the dead birds at 6 weeks old, and found necrosis in the hip joint, which he said was very common in these fast growing birds. He also found brittle bones, bent bones due to high body weight, and heart failure.
The US National Chicken Council, the "Big Chicken" lobby group of the industry, was described by one farmer in the documentary as being "a large mafia", as the organisation controls every aspect of the industry, from the breed, incubating the eggs, supplying hatchlings, feed, medications, and even encourages competition amongst growers to produce the biggest and best birds, for a reward of increased payments over other chicken farmers. And the farmers have no say in anything. If a farmer speaks out, the industry can make it impossible for them to make a profit to drive the farmer out of the system. An informer from the organisation explained that expensive upgrades to the chicken farms were forced onto the farmers, to keep them in debt and to have control over them.
Morgan wanted to market his chickens as "free range". The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) definition of "free-range" chicken means that the chickens are ALLOWED to have 51% access to daytime outside their sheds, but the chickens don't actually have to go outside. So he built a small 1 meter radius semicircle arc of a fence in the doorway of his massive shed, which could potentially allow a couple of his thousands of chickens to venture outside, but they didn't. But he could still call the meat as "free-range".
Another misleading term used in chickens is "cage-free", but chickens grown for meat in the US have never been raised in cages (unlike chickens that are produced for their eggs, where cages are very common). Another misleading term is "humanely raised", for which there are no guidelines as to what this actually means!
Marketing of foods in the documentary was also interesting, in using specific terms to make the foods or meals appear healthier when they are not. After coming up with some sample chicken "sandwiches" (actually a burger!) Morgan asked his marketing consultants "how healthy is a sandwich?", and everyone laughed...
He wanted to use the term "organic" to market his chicken in meals, but the chicken feed wasn't organic. It was mostly based on grains with corn then soy meal as the main ingredients, but also included pork meat and a massive shopping list of other ingredients including mould (Aspergillis) and a heap of anti-parasitic and anti-bacterial ingredients (oregano oil, garlic oil, clove oil and more), which actually cause dysbiosis (an imbalance of the gut microbiome) and this actually helps them put on more weight!
So since he can't call his chickens organic, he tried "all natural" instead, but an expert says that this is the most misleading claim in meat products. Consumers seem to think that "all natural" is similar to or is the same as "organic" in its meaning. It has nothing to do with what the animals are fed or their growing environment or whether they are given medications or antibiotics. According to the USDA, "all natural" means "minimally processed" and "no artificial ingredients" These guidelines only need to be applied AFTER the animal is killed.
In the US, poultry cannot be given hormones to make them grow faster, but producers still make the claim in their marketing or labelling that the chicken is "hormone-free".
So he can (and did) call his chicken meat products as "free range, cage-free, no hormones added, humanely-raised, 100% natural", and this could get the USDA's seal of approval! And Morgan quoted "that's some pretty good bullsh1t right there!". And the USDA don't have a budget to test or check anything, so they just rubber stamp everything.
The majority of the documentary was to highlight the ridiculousness of the wording used in the production and marketing of fast food products, and how marketing consultants can make up things to make food appear better or healthier, when they really aren't. And such companies get away with it, and people buy the BS. There was nothing in the documentary about the actual nutrition of these foods, or how they affect your health. With all this BS marketing, people think they can eat anything they want. And food companies use these techniques of human behaviour to suck you in and to increase their sales.
Morgan interviewed a professor of nutrition and he asked "what if there was a company who was completely honest with their customers?", to which she looked confused and said "why would they want to do that"!
Hilariously, Morgan used a lot of honest statements about the chickens and the industry in his marketing in the new restaurant including:
- "Holy chicken (the name of the restaurant) too good to be true"
- A "better for you, sounds great - means nothing" sticker on the burger/sandwich wrapper to hold it together
- "Holy chickens are so awesome, they can hardly stand it", referring to how fat the chickens are that they can barely stand up
- Having a sign in the restaurant showing how small the outdoor space needed to be for thousands of chickens to call them "free range"
- Signs explaining that they use green paint and wood in the restaurant to give the impression of nature and healthy food
- "No added asbestos or plutonium" signs on the wall!
- And "We never use the F-word" referring to "fried" and why they use the word "crispy" instead, so people think the food is healthier, even though the chicken IS fried!
- They point out all the w@nky marketing terms of "fresh", "artisanal", "green", "local", "all natural" and more, mean nothing but are used to trick people
- And signs on the tables that explain the black horizontal "grill" marks on the chicken are actually PAINTED on (which much of the industry does), to give the impression of grilled chicken having more flavour, when the chicken is actually fried.
Morgan is at least very open and honest about everything, no doubt to the disgust of the "big chicken" industry. And the customers are shocked but loving his message. 4 days after opening the restaurant, several investors called him to want to franchise the brand all across the US! But it was just a short-term venture to get the message out to the public about the chicken industry and to make the documentary.
And the chicken farmers started lawsuits against the "big chicken" companies.
I recommend to watch the full "Super size me 2: Holy Chicken" documentary on your favourite streaming channel.
Stay healthy!
RSS Feed