On at least three different occasions during the event, activists holding large yellow signs reading "Stop Supporting Petaluma Poultry's Criminal Animal Abuse" interrupted the Food Network star as he talked with guests. The activists, part of Berkeley-based animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, were protesting Florence's partnership with Petaluma Poultry, a subsidiary of poultry giant Perdue Farms.
"If Tyler Florence had seen what I've seen in Petaluma Poultry factory farms and its slaughterhouse, he would agree this criminal animal abuse is unacceptable," Rosenberg said in a statement Monday. Perdue Farms did not respond to requests for comment by press time. Disruptions have become somewhat commonplace at Florence's public appearances.