Summary
We're a planet addicted to chicken - and our appetites fuel a massive global industry... but is it one we should support?
As Chris wrestles with how he personally feels about this weird and wonderful bird, he decides to take a look at the business as a whole: a global industry that's cited by some as a shining example of a super-efficient food production system, one that could help drive food security around the world.
But others say it’s a cruel, destructive and outdated structure that makes a few people richer while exploiting others – along with animals and the environment.
In Brazil, one of the world’s biggest chicken and soya producers, our reporter Leonardo Milano hears accusations of threats and pollution relating to the feed sector; while in Africa, Chris learns about poultry-farming initiatives helping to make struggling nations more food-secure.
And then there are the other challenges that the industry is wrestling with: from antimicrobial resistance to the threat of another major global pandemic, potentially stemming from chicken farms…
So is there a ‘big business bad guy’ to blame – or does responsibility lie closer to home, with unquestioning consumers like Chris?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This was in a impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box. |
| 0:05.0 | The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from. |
| 0:09.0 | One of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape. |
| 0:12.0 | The IRA inmates who found a way. |
| 0:14.4 | I'm Carlo Gableer, and I'll be navigating a path through the disturbing inside story |
| 0:21.5 | of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history. |
| 0:25.0 | The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them. |
| 0:28.5 | Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC sounds. |
| 0:47.0 | We hear the birds singing. We can feel the breeze, feel the freshness of the forest. We can feed ourselves from the forest, from what it produces, from hunting, from birds. |
| 0:55.0 | Welcome to Brazil. |
| 0:57.0 | My name is Jezenyudu. |
| 1:00.0 | My name is Jezeniudu. |
| 1:01.0 | I am chief of the Mundur people in Para municipality of Centarene. |
| 1:06.5 | The Para region is home to indigenous tribes and also big agribusiness. |
| 1:11.2 | I'm going to big agribusiness. Agribusiness for us doesn't bring the wealth and development that is so often reported by the big media. |
| 1:21.0 | It only brings destruction, only misery. |
| 1:25.0 | For us, the forests and the land are something mystical. |
| 1:29.0 | For them, the land is only valuable if it can produce what they want. |
| 1:34.0 | This is Fed, with me, Chris Van Telicon. |
| 1:40.0 | I'm investigating why we eat the food we eat and at what cost. |
| 1:45.0 | I'm telling the story of our complicated relationship with a bird, a bird that |
| 1:50.0 | illustrates our approach to food perhaps better than anything else, a bird whose influence |
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