As much as 25 percent of broiler poultry and 45 percent of ground poultry is allowed by the USDA to test positive for contamination. Inspectors have about 2 seconds to examine a poultry carcass. Less than one in every 250,000 carcasses is tested toxic chemical residues. Due to faster line speeds in slaughterhouses today, fecal material is getting on the carcasses a lot more often. No, but they are bred to be very different from their ancestors.
Some turkeys have problems standing and fall and are trampled on.
With advances in genetic selection, adult turkey males, or toms, can weigh up to 85 pounds, whereas a hen weighs around 20 pounds when she begins to lay eggs. This size difference makes mating practically impossible. Modern turkeys are so heavy and misshapen that they must be artificially inseminated in order to reproduce. The procedure is undertaken twice a week, and is painful and traumatic to both males and female turkeys. Essentially 100 percent of the nearly 300 million turkeys produced annually in the U.S. for consumption are the result of artificial insemination.