Tyson’s Pride can bring the fall

The 30’s was a hard time for many Americans; it was the time of the stock market crash. Many needed another source of income thus began their search of what they could find. Jon Tyson knew he needed to find a way to make money and fast. So he took chickens and drove them to the border outside Arkansas, the money he garnered from this came faster than even he expected. In 1943 he made his first company purchase before he knew it he provided three essential services: the sale of baby chicks, the sale of feed, and the transportation of chickens to market (Tyson.com). Today, we all know about Tyson Foods it has become a global empire that brings in more than 27 billion dollars yearly. However there have been many speculations and concerns in regard to Tyson Foods. Tyson Foods Corporation has had many judicial and consumer conflicts largely due to Tyson’s ambition for keeping a food empire.

Again Tyson Foods has had numerous run-ins with the law. In April, Don Tyson was charged with embezzlement. The corporation had to pay a 1.7 million dollar charge to the Security Exchange Committee largely due to this (Web.ebscohost.com). As if Don Tyson doesn't have enough money already. He was having a percentage of the profit going to him after he already stepped down (he still sits on the board of directors). There is nothing else that can cause an action like this but greed. He wanted more and more and he didn't want to give it up. They even went as far as getting tax breaks from the government. For the longest time Tyson was classed as a family farm, saving themselves around 10 million dollars annually. Since 1950 Tyson has been generating millions of dollars annually. I would hardly classify them as a family farm. Why did Don Tyson become one of the richest men in the world—he knew that he could manipulate the system to his own advantage. Yes, he has had numerous run-ins with the law but I don’t think this number does justice to the number of times he has gotten away with some illegal activity.

In the Pickett vs. Tyson Fresh Meats the settlement involved 1.28 billion dollars (Proquest.com). The OCM, or the Organization for Competitive Market filed that Tyson went behind the backs of many independent cattle ranchers and found themselves a long-term supply of cattle. The cost of this action to the independent cattle ranchers is that they no longer have anyone to buy their cattle. The case dealt with 30,000 ranchers who filling the complaint against the Tyson empire. So what was the ruling? The judge threw out the claim stating, “Tyson was guaranteed a consistent, reliable supply of cattle and that Tyson needed captive supplies to meet the competition where other packers engaged in the practice.” Meet the competition? Am I missing something here because as far as I know Tyson is the competition, right? 30,000 ranchers that ended up losing their farms, homes, and possibly their lives all due to Tyson taking over like a monopoly. Why doesn’t anybody want to regulate this giant empire? Could it be possible that if we did regulate them then maybe they wouldn’t be so power hungry?

Many of the Tyson farms have been running out the local farm lands. Their plants continue to grow and grow and many farmers are having complaints about the ammonia that is coming from Tyson farms. As the plants continue to expand chicken farmers continue to take over more and more farmland. Well not only is the farmland taken away from farmers but the emissions from the chicken growers ends up seeping out ammonia. These farmers filed a lawsuit against Tyson with the support of the Sierra Club. Tyson had to spend 500,000 dollars to monitor two chicken farms that have been spreading ammonia around the area (Web.ebscohost.com). Tyson has faced numerous law suits and they have broken many environmental acts. For instance the Clean Water Act basically states that it is a federal law to dump any toxic substances into the water. Well back in 2003 the company openly admitted to dumping untreated wastewater from its processing plant in Missouri (Wikipedia.org). You would think that after one or two lawsuits they would get the picture but they out-do themselves and come up with more law-breaking activities. In 2004, Tyson had to pay 7.3 million dollars for settlement fees in Tulsa, OK. They were using chicken wastes as fertilizer and had created phosphorous pollution in Tulsa’s main source of water (Wikipedia.org).

Another serious issue that comes to mind is the false advertising that Tyson has been doing. Would it really be in the best interest of consumers to eat chicken that they think doesn't contain anti-biotic when really it does. Tyson knew that if they put on their chicken that it contained antibiotics then the rate of purchase would drop and their return of profit would decrease. In May 2007 the USDA approved Tyson chicken to be labeled "raised without Antibiotics" but quickly withdrew the approval when they discovered that the chicken’s food contained ionophores, and antimicrobials (Web.ebscohost.com). This is another act of dishonesty against Tyson. It is becoming a strong hypothesis that Tyson food doesn't put the consumers first but rather the products. They are willing to do whatever it takes to make their products sell.

There have even been discrimination charges that were filed against Tyson. In Ashland, Alabama thirteen African Americans claimed that they didn’t appreciate walking to the bathroom and seeing a “whites only” sign hanging on one of the doors. These workers claimed that whenever they complained about this to the management they were either suspended from work or “suffered disciplinary actions”, along with this complained about numerous racial slurs and comments that were thrown at them during working hours. This suit cost Tyson $871,000 to repair (Wikipedia.org). When really something like this should never have taken place from the beginning. It seemed these managers weren’t complaining when these people were working but once they opened their mouths then the problems began. Tyson will treat their own workers indifferent without remorse as long as they are making a profit.

Not only are they affecting consumers with their products but they affect farmers with the production process. Their mass productions are affecting our lands, air, and water; but the records show that Tyson has no remorse they only care about making the extra dollar. At the rate they are expanding the conflicts with the law will only increase. It seems like the only way for their expansion to happen is to cut through laws that have been created. They continue to find more ways to grow and will not stop in expanding as far as they can, taking numerous farmers and ranchers away from their lands. “Working at the heart of your menu” is what you would read if you ever were to visit the Tyson website. It can make you wonder…..what really is at the heart, certainly not upholding the law and putting that first above all else.

 
Works Cited

"COMPANY NEWS; TYSON FOODS MAY BE SUED BY REGULATORS OVER DISCLOSURE." New York Times (17 Aug. 2004): 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Rice Library, Evansville, IN. 15 Aug. 2008 .

"COMPANY NEWS; TYSON FOODS SETTLES AIR POLLUTION SUIT FOR $500,000." New York Times (28 Jan. 2005): 4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Rice Library, Evansville, IN. 15 Aug. 2008 .

History. “Era:30’s-80’s”. 2006. 15 August 2008. .

“Tyson Foods.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 6 Aug 2008, 05:45 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 Aug 2008
.

"Tyson must stop advertising chicken as "raised without antibiotics"." Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 232.12 (15 June 2008): 1790-1790. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Rice Library, Evansville, IN. 15 Aug. 2008 .

"Tyson Fix OK'd. " Multinational Monitor 25.4 (2004): 4. Business Module. ProQuest. David L. Rice Library, Evansville, IN. 15 Aug. 2008 .