posted May 20, 2008 03:08 PM         

Date: Wednesday, May 21
Time: 9 a.m.
Place: O'Charley's headquarters, 3038 Sidco Dr., Nashville

Currently, chickens killed for O'Charley's are dumped onto conveyors and hung upside-down by their legs in metal shackles--often causing broken bones--and their heads are run through electrified baths that give them painful shocks without rendering them insensible to pain. The birds are still conscious when their throats are cut, and many are scalded to death in defeathering tanks.

With CAK, the oxygen that chickens breathe is slowly replaced with inert, nonpoisonous gasses--such as argon and nitrogen--putting the birds "to sleep" quickly and painlessly. Studies of CAK conclude that in addition to being the least cruel form of poultry slaughter, it also results in economic benefits. CAK improves working conditions and meat yield and quality, and it reduces labor costs and the potential for contamination.

Chicken retailers Burger King, Carl's Jr., Hardee's, and Wendy's now give purchasing preference or consideration to suppliers that use CAK. Grocery giant Safeway also already purchases some chickens from CAK suppliers.

"Having its name linked to tortured animals spells trouble for O'Charley's bottom line," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "Consumers care about animal welfare, so it's in O'Charley's best interests to switch to a less cruel slaughter method."

For more information, please visit PETA.org/cak. PETA's statement follows.

O'Charley's 2008 Shareholder Meeting Statement

Hello. My name is Nicole Matthews, and I have a quick question regarding animal welfare.

Right now, every chicken killed for O'Charley's is killed using a process called electric immobilization, which results in both animal welfare and economic problems. Electric immobilization works by paralyzing birds with an electric shock, slitting their throats while they're still conscious, and then defeathering them in scalding-hot water. These methods result in the following problems:

· Birds suffer broken bones, bruising, and hemorrhaging when they are dumped and shackled, which lowers product quality and yield. They also peck and scratch at each other, which increases contamination.

· Birds are often scalded to death in defeathering tanks, further decreasing yield. When this happens, they often defecate in the tanks, further increasing product contamination.

· Frenzied birds flap their wings, kick workers, and vomit and defecate on them, increasing worker injuries and illness and creating poor overall ergonomics. This leads to higher company payout and an extremely high turnover rate.

· Because frustrated workers handle live birds, they often abuse the animals. At facilities of the top chicken suppliers, we've found that live birds were maimed by workers using sharp knives, slammed against walls, had their faces spray-painted, and had tobacco spit into their eyes.

There is a better process called controlled-atmosphere killing, or CAK, which is USDA-approved and improves product quality and yield, working conditions, and animal welfare. Consider the following benefits of CAK:

· With CAK, birds are placed in chambers while they are still in their transport crates. Their oxygen is replaced with inert gasses or low levels of carbon dioxide, efficiently and gently putting them "to sleep."

· Because workers only handle birds once the animals are dead, ergonomics improve, injury and illness rates for workers decrease, and the opportunities for workers to abuse live birds are eliminated.

· Because there is no live dumping, live shackling, or live scalding, product quality and yield--as well as animal welfare--are greatly improved and rates of contamination decrease. This means that if O'Charley's suppliers switched to CAK, O'Charley's would have better quality products at a lower cost. CAK also results in a longer shelf life.

Other major restaurant chains are taking notice of CAK. Burger King, Hardee's, Carl's Jr., and Wendy's are just some of the companies that now give purchasing preference or consideration to suppliers that use CAK.

Despite all this, O'Charley's hasn't shown any concrete movement on CAK. My question is: How specifically--and when--does O'Charley's plan to move forward with ensuring that its suppliers are adopting this proven technology?