Banned Antibiotic Found In Turkey Meat Sold In U.S. Whole Foods Stores
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Diana Lupica, PlantBasedNews.org
November 2017

The lawsuit states that Diestel violated California’s False Advertising Law by labeling its turkeys as 'free range' and 'humane', despite raising them in 'an agro-industrial operation'.

The USDA has discovered the residue of a host of drugs in turkey meat

The residue of a FDA-prohibited antibiotic has appeared in tests done by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Diestel Turkey Ranch birds.

The comapny's meat products are sold in Whole Foods stores, as well as other 'natural' food shops across the US.

The drug in question, Chloramphenicol, can have 'severe toxic effects in humans including bone marrow suppression or aplastic anemia in susceptible individuals', according to the USDA.

Other drugs that appeared in tests done on Diestel turkeys by the USDA’s National Residue Program include amikacin, hygromycin, ipronidazole, melengestrol acetate, and ketamine, a narcotic that the Drug Enforcement Agency describes as 'dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects' - and which hasn't been approved by the FDA for use in poultry.

Diestel Turkey Ranch has been misleading its customers

'Misleading'

Diestel Turkey Ranch has also mislead its customers by stating on its website that the turkeys are 'never given hormones, antibiotics or growth stimulants'.

An amended complaint was filed this week in the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda on behalf of an individual consumer and animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) - Direct Action Everywhere & Elliott v. Diestel Turkey Ranch, Second Amended Complaint, November 13, 2017

"Consumers are being misled by Diestel," said DxE co-founder Wayne Hsiung.

"They think high-priced Diestel turkey is drug free when it actually contains drugs that can be harmful to humans."

Lawsuit

The lawsuit also alleges that the meat producer has falsely advertised that its turkeys are raised outdoors when, in fact, they are raised in massive industrial sheds.

The lawsuit states that Diestel violated California’s False Advertising Law by labeling its turkeys as 'free range' and 'humane', despite raising them in 'an agro-industrial operation'.  

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