I liked my good friend Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton’s blog this week. I think she needs to be listened to, by all protein producers, not just the feathered kind.

We will be moving next week, and we had a professional packer in the house today making certain nothing would get broken in the move. She knew I was an M.D. and fiddled around in food safety a bit.

Her question was whether GMO products were safe or not. Remember, we live very close to Boulder County, where you cannot plant GMO soybeans.

Many people are exposed to others’ opinions on Facebook, Twitter and other great sources for scientific information. They may ask questions those in the animal ag business deem stupid, but that does not mean the questioner is stupid—just maybe misinformed.

And who besides Twitter is misinforming them?

You all are.

When the National Chicken Council, US Poultry and Egg Alliance and USAPEEC sit idly by while labels on chicken meat packages advertising “Cage Free Meat” and “No Hormones Used” are everywhere in our grocery stores, you are simply condoning misinforming the consumer.

When the National Beef Check Off says of course antibiotics are used in feed lots, but implies they are only used to treat sick animals, they are misinforming the consumers.

When the Farmers and Ranchers Alliance says on their web page that antibiotics are only administered to animals raised for food under the direct supervision of a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, they are misinforming the consumers.

From reading the labels, it is only logical for shoppers to conclude that hormones ARE used in chicken production and that many packages of chicken meat ARE from birds raised in cages.

I have had many people even tell me that they believe the use of hormones in poultry production is why the “breasts” are getting so big; breasts as in mammary glands vs. breasts as in pectoralis muscle tissue.

When I explain this misconception to them it is definitely an “Aha” moment.

There should be more Aha moments as we explain other animal husbandry issues; such as CAFOs are not necessarily “filthy” environments that mandate the use of antibiotics to keep animals healthy. Instead, they are controlled environments that have helped eliminate Trichinosis as a risk from eating undercooked pork and removed the threat of the fox in the hen house.

Feed yards for cattle simply mean less water and grass consumed to get to market weight, and a whole lot less manure and methane gas produced.

You can do better and I am challenging every one of you to step up to the plate and educate consumers with facts presented in a fashion that they can understand and communicated in a fashion that they can comprehend.

Just please do not call them stupid. Instead, recognize that they are scared and meet them at that level.

It is past time to talk with consumers

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