{"id":992,"date":"2015-11-24T00:01:35","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T05:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailypitchfork.org\/?p=992"},"modified":"2015-11-24T12:39:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T17:39:18","slug":"theres-nothing-humane-about-whole-foods-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailypitchfork.org\/?p=992","title":{"rendered":"There’s Nothing Humane About Whole Foods Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>

The Diestel Turkey Ranch in Sonora, CA is a beautiful place where turkeys are free to roam on tree-shaded green pastures. \u201cHAPPY TURKEYS AHEAD\u201d reads a sign outside the Whole Foods meat supplier\u2019s farm in the foothills of the Sierra.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what consumers see in promotional brochures and Whole Foods video<\/a> of Diestel\u2019s Sonora ranch, one of just three suppliers (out of 2100) to earn Whole Foods\u2019 5+ humane meat rating, the upscale retailer\u2019s coveted top honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of secrets here<\/a>,\u201d says Timothy J. Diestel, who along with his wife Joan C. Diestel has been running the ranch since 1980.<\/p>\n

But an investigation and report by the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) shows otherwise. A 2013 California Regional Water Quality Control Board report states no commercial turkeys have been raised at the Sonora facility since 2011. According to the report, Diestel\u2019s turkeys come from other facilities. One of those is in nearby Jamestown, whose premises are nothing like what Whole Foods depicts in its \u201chumane turkey\u201d videos.<\/p>\n

Heidi Diestel, a company spokesperson, counters that thousands of turkeys for sale were raised at the Sonora farm this year, but she concurred that the majority of their birds are raised elsewhere. When the information in the California Regional Water Quality Control Board document was quoted to her, she said, \u201cThat\u2019s curious. We raise more [than a couple hundred] turkeys here. I\u2019m not sure what was going on in 2013 but as of this year we raise more than a couple hundred turkeys here on our main site.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"WF<\/a>

Butcher paper used to wrap cuts of meat at a Whole Foods Berkeley store, 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Know where your meat comes from\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Meat from Whole Foods comes wrapped in butcher paper printed with such slogans as \u201cCommitted to transparent farming and ranching practices\u201d and \u201cKnow where your meat comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) set out to document: Where do most of Whole Food\u2019s turkeys come from? How are these turkeys treated during their short, six-month lives? <\/em><\/p>\n

DxE\u2019s investigation of the Whole Foods supplier broke in the Wall Street Journal<\/em>\u2019s online edition<\/a> Monday evening. The nine-month investigation by the Oakland, CA-based group revealed that turkeys live in \u201chorrific conditions\u201d at Diestel\u2019s Jamestown facility, where hundreds of thousands of turkeys are raised each year, including those marketed as \u201chumanely raised\u201d by Whole Foods. You can watch the video footage here:<\/p>\n