Stephanie Strom writes in The New York Times that all of Perdue's chickens - 676 million last year - will soon bask in sunlight and have more space in barns as part of an ambitious overhaul of the company's animal welfare practices. The commitment will hold Perdue to standards similar to those in Europe, which the American poultry industry has long dismissed as antiquated, inefficient and costly. Perdue may also tinker with breeding to decrease the speed at which birds grow or to reduce their breast size, steps that could decrease the number and severity of leg injuries, an issue that has brought unwanted attention to the company.
"We are going to go beyond what a chicken needs and give chickens what they want," says Jim Perdue, whose grandfather founded the business in 1920. The chicken industry has long argued that such standards would raise costs to producers but Perdue, which had $6 billion in sales last year and increased production more than 9 percent, is betting such concerns are overblown based on its experience so far. Over the last decade or so, Perdue has done more than any other major American poultry producer to eliminate antibiotics of all kinds from its procedures. While Tyson Foods, the country's largest poultry producer, asked its farmers to adopt what are known as the five freedoms of animal welfare — including freedom from discomfort and freedom from fear and distress — Perdue is going further by insisting that its farmers enforce them. "We want to be held accountable," says Perdue. "If we mess up, we have to be prepared to say we messed up."
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday June 27 2016, @11:25PM
They're getting cable TV!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Monday June 27 2016, @11:36PM
I thought they said happier.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 27 2016, @11:45PM
Wait! Is this the University, or the chicken factory? And how could we tell the difference?
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Monday June 27 2016, @11:49PM
I dunno, but there's nobody in here but us chickens!
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 4, Funny) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:00AM
Better lookout for the Buzzard in #dev then.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:05AM
With organic, free range, and cage-free eggs getting higher prices, maybe Mr. Perdue sees another way to justify just a few extra dimes out of customers. Chicken is still one of the cheapest animal tissue proteins out there. <homer>Mmmm, animal tissue.</homer>
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by dyingtolive on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:27AM
In the STL area, pork is actually the cheapest, though chicken thighs weigh in a close second. I have pork steaks for a while, then chicken curry for a while longer, with steaks on the weekend. It's a pretty decent combo.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by quintessence on Tuesday June 28 2016, @01:20AM
Often when you try to maximize efficiency from all aspects of a process, the net input exceeds the output by a larger margin. A bit of a fudge factor gives you opportunity to make adjustments in the natural vacillation, instead of being so tightly wound that one parameter being a little off wrecks the whole thing. There's a balance even to efficiency, with having some inefficiency built in having a better output on average.
It seems they are giving themselves a bit of breathing room with space requirements, and realizing gains elsewhere (lower injuries, lowers antibiotic costs, etc.) from not stressing the system to near collapse.
Being able to charge more is just a bonus.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:13AM
Suppose that the broken legs cause stress for the bird, and this affects the flavor of the meat.
Does it taste better? If so, we need to break all the legs. We should automate it, with a leg-break machine, ensuring consistent results.
(Score: 2) by Zinho on Tuesday June 28 2016, @03:19PM
Does it taste better? If so, we need to break all the legs. We should automate it, with a leg-break machine, ensuring consistent results.
This got modded flamebait, but I guarantee that if a robotic leg-breaker improved flavor the industry would make it. There would of course be a bunch of spin on how it was being done as ethically as possible, yadda yadda.
Fortunately for everyone, broken legs don't improve the flavor. The science is in, and increased stress on the birds is known to negatively affect the flavor.
With any luck, the poultry industry will abandon its fetish for breast size and shape in birds and bring back the focus on meat flavor. The New York Post wrote an insightful and slightly wordy article on this titled Why chicken doesn't taste like chicken anymore. [nypost.com] For the TL;DR crowd, the takeaway is that right after WWII the industry decided increased bird weight and faster growth rates were the most important things in order to meet demand, and bred birds to exactly match an idealized mature bird. The prototype for that ideal was spread with full-sized wax figures, and breeders sacrificed bird health and flavor to achieve it.
I'm hoping that, instead of just costing more, the new birds that they produce will actually be worth more as well. Better flavor and texture would be a great place to start, as long as they're stepping away from the "bigger is best" mentality. At the very least we at least won't be getting as much of the flavor penalties from stress and injury anymore.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 1) by justinb_76 on Tuesday June 28 2016, @05:23PM
an interesting side effect of the increased production of the US chicken industry post ww2 was the Chicken Tax - basically European nations placed a tariff on US chicken as their local industries couldn't compete, and in response the US placed a tariff on foreign trucks.
here's an example of what happened as a result from several years back (vehicles are shipped over with rear passenger seats to avoid being classified as a truck, then seats are removed before they're sold as a truck) http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125357990638429655 [wsj.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:16AM
Comfortable? I must say I am.
OK now let me add some onions and carrots.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Tuesday June 28 2016, @12:47AM
Actually, you're danger-close on one of my favorite soup recipes. It's vague but easy to work out the proportions:
Chicken Broth
Chopped Chicken Thighs
Onions
Carrots
Bell Peppers
Garlic
Rosemary
Couple Bay Leaves
Egg Yolks (as emulsifiers)
Simmer until feels good. I usually do a couple hours. Goes great with a soda bread.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by Techwolf on Tuesday June 28 2016, @01:50AM
Why is there a link to PETA on the articial?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @05:17AM
Why do you think it is there?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @02:00AM
6. Freedom to emigrate to the cage/farm/pasture/forest/lake/city/country of their choice.
Oh wait, the freedoms are bullshit and any attention paid to animal welfare is just Purdue and Tyson PR to make customers feel better about eating animals. Embrace carnivorism or stop eating meat; there is no middle ground. Same with research animals.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Walzmyn on Tuesday June 28 2016, @02:08AM
This is my life's work; born and raised and currently work in this industry. I write this from the heart of the poultry business in the US. I also happen to be 30 minutes from a major city we all nick-name 'hippyville'. The reason Prudue's doing this is economic. He thinks he can use this as a marking scheme to sale more meat. End of story.
Nation wide, our birds are kept in climate controlled houses (modern ones cost between a quarter and half a million dollars). They are never more than 10 feet from water, or about 15 feet from food. We go out of our way to make sure their bedding is dry, the air is clean and they have all they need.
I've seen the leg thing come and go a dozen times. Yes, growth rate effects it, but feed quality has about 20x more effect. One bad load of corn from the railroad can cripple a whole complex full of birds, where growth rate induced leg problems is something that can be (and we do) managed.
This sanctimonious, I'm better than thou, pay me more for my morally superior product pisses me the hell off.
The real problem is this is not just the Purdue company. These birds are actually raised by independent growers; small businessmen who are contracted with the company. 'Independent' is a bit of a misnomer. They are not employed by the company, but they are not completely on their own and have to follow the dictates of the integrator or be left in the cold (and with huge debt). This check that Prudue is writing has to be cashed by these growers. They are the ones that have to do all the extra work, spend the extra time, spend the extra money to make this happen. And you can rest assured, they will not see nearly the payback from this effort that Prudue will.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @03:10AM
From another farmer:
Preach it, brother.
No, chickens aren't my thing, but I have family background in chickens, and every word you says rings true - especially the bullshit marketing speak and how well chickens are treated in real life.
Also, a lot of the hand-wringing is astroturf for one reason or another. I ran into a case where the USDA was called in to inspect a total horrorshow of a slaughterhouse - only to discover that all the hideous revelations produced by secret undercover cameras were fabrications of the trade union that, surprise surprise, was in contract negotiations and had decided to play some hardball with the management, courtesy of your tax dollars and mine. I had occasion to speak with the veterinarian who actually performed the inspection, along with independent corroboration from the veterinary technician who was also involved.
It's just possible that there might be something we could be doing better - but whatever it is, I wouldn't look to Perdue's marketing to find out what that is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @05:53AM
I believe it is in response to things like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE9l94b3x9U [youtube.com]
Interesting this is your life's work yet you misspell one of the largest producers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @06:55AM
I don't think a spelling error is meaningful.
But I do think he's an example of Upton Sinclair's quote that "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 28 2016, @03:36PM
A chicken farmer's deep, direct financial interest depends heavily on ... wait for it ...
happy chickens.
Stressed chickens produce less, grow more slowly, and taste worse. Chicken farmers already work very hard to make chickens as happy and relaxed as they can.
Chicken farmers also have a huge opportunity to observe chickens directly, judge their preferences from their actions, and understand their motivations.
A bunch of urban hand-wringers talking about freedoms for chickens under some anthropomorphic understanding of chickens may be driving Perdue to change their ways for marketing reasons (on the backs of contracted chicken producers) but let's not pretend this relates in any way to what the chickens actually want or need.
It's politics. It's marketing.
It's not chicken welfare.