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Built On The Backs Of The Vulnerable: Inside Case Farms Chicken Company

Case Farms chicken company produces nearly one billion pounds of meat each year. It supplies food for customers including Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Boar’s Head, and the U.S. government. Yet a new report shows it is a business built on the backs of the world’s most vulnerable immigrants. And its factories are some of the most dangerous workplaces in America.Host Frank Stasio talks with Michael Grabell, a ProPublica reporter and contributor to the New Yorker, about his investigation into Case Farms.

Two of the company's four factories are in North Carolina – one in Morganton and one in Dudley. Host FrankStasiotalks withMichael Grabell, a ProPublica reporterand contributor to the New Yorker, abouthis investigation into Case Farms.  

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A new indepth investigation by Michael Grabell demonstrates that Case Farms is a chicken company built on the backs of vulnerable immigrants.
Hector Emanuel, special to ProPublica /
A new indepth investigation by Michael Grabell demonstrates that Case Farms is a chicken company built on the backs of vulnerable immigrants.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.