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driving force for cheaper chicken. Meat that grows quickly and
is cheap to produce is going to be cheaper to the consumer. The
health and well-being of the chickens being raised has officially
dipped below the importance of profit.
Farming was never intended to be exploited this way. The
third controversy about how things are being fixed is all but
neglected. As technology advanced, the farming techniques
changed. The population increase demanded a more efficient
way to mass manufacture meat. In the early 20th century, at
the height of the chemical boom, hormones and steroids were
attempted by all the largest poultry farmers. Battery cages, the
wall-long segmented wire cage used in egg farming, became the
norm. A practice known as “induced molting” would starve the
laying chickens in an attempt to heighten their egg production.
These are just some of the practices that were embraced by a
type of farming known as factory, or intensive, farming. All of
these techniques, within the last couple decades, have become
illegal in the United States. According to the National Poultry
Improvement Plan (NPIP), a segment from the Code of Federal
Regulations, there is more change to come. Biannual meetings
are conducted through the NPIP. Any member of the
improvement plan is allowed to propose a change. Through a