We wash salad in chlorine to kill off the salmonella (unless you'd rather cook them at 175 degrees for an hour).
I guess we could just wash everything in chlorine if we wanted to. Or maybe it's a bit nicer to just treat the animals a bit better so they're less likely to have high levels of salmonella and e-coli and require the chlorine wash.
I think you are still able to douse them at home with chlorine if you choose, so don't worry about that.