To describe the interactions between the meat and poultry industry, activist groups and consumer media over the last few decades as “apprehensive” and “antagonistic” would be a kind gesture.
The public side of the relationship has featured suspicion, overemphasis on bad-apple examples and often biased, misleading claims made by activists against the industry. It has been a dysfunctional existence built around mistrust and the ability of the loudest voices to get the most publicity.