Chicken

Veterinarian Becomes Disease Detective: Nichols Connects Animal Disease and Human Health

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:26:37 GMT

Growing up on a New Mexico ranch, veterinarian and public health leader Megin Nichols says she learned early the health of animals, humans and the environment are deeply connected.

Initially planning to practice small animal medicine, she says her plans began to pivot when she met a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) epidemic intelligence service officer who sparked her interest in public health. That realization led her to pursue a master’s degree in public health at the University of Minnesota, with a focus on food safety and biosecurity. Her career has included roles in local, state and federal health departments, investigating foodborne illness outbreaks and developing strategies to prevent them.

“Life has a way of taking you in places you never anticipated,” she shared during the 2025 Henry C. Gardiner Global Food Systems Lecture Oct. 6 at Kansas State University.

Today, as the CDC’s director in the division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases, she lends her expertise to efforts involving disease investigation, food safety, antimicrobial resistance and agriculture literacy.

Megin Nichols has more than 15 years of zoonotic disease experience and has served at the federal and state levels. She has served as the lead of the Enteric Zoonoses Team investigating multistate outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli. Prior to joining CDC, Nichols worked as the Principal Investigator of the Active Bacterial Core Surveillance Program at the New Mexico Department of Health for five years.

(Angie Stump Denton)

One Health: Connecting Animal Disease and Human Health

Nichols’ work focuses on the One Health concept.

“One Health is recognizing the health and well-being of humans, of animals and our environment are all interconnected,” she explains. “One Health is something that many of us do every single day and are very, very aware of, especially if you have ties to agriculture and the land. But One Health as a concept oftentimes is difficult to fully understand.”

Nichols says One Health is:

Ongoing relationships with animal agencies.
Understand the culture of agriculture.
Having access to integrated human and animal surveillance.
Protocols for conducting joint response investigations.
Agreements for sharing biological samples and lab results.
Established lines of communication with agriculture and animal industry.
Plans for unified communication messaging.
Need to build linkages and trust before and outbreak.

“What happens in one area can significantly impact others — whether it’s a wildfire, a disease outbreak or environmental changes,” Nichols summarizes.

Pandemic and Disease Response Insights

Nichols was a leader in investigating and finding unique solutions for the livestock industry and specifically meat packing industry related to COVID-19.

“In April 2020, I got a call from my supervisor saying there are some meat, poultry packing plants that are going down because of labor shortages and illness,” she explains.

She selected and lead a team to figure out how to get the plants opened back up safely and to find unique solution to deal with the related animal welfare issues.

Summarizing the experiences, Nichols reports the estimated economic cost of COVID-19 is $14 trillion. Along with supply chain disruptions the industry experienced changes in consumer behavior, labor shortage and complex operations challenges. On a positive note, she says the industry did experience a lot of innovation and uptake of technology due to the pandemic, which resulted in innovative approaches to workplace safety and communication.

“We saw innovative strategies where if one person got sick, they looked around that worker and said, ‘OK, who do we need to monitor quickly for symptoms?’” she says.

Nichols also discussed the increase in salmonella outbreaks during the pandemic. She links the rise to the increase in backyard poultry ownership and the improper handling of backyard chickens.

“Many new chicken owners were unaware of disease transmission risks,” she explains.

Nichols also shared insights to H5N1 influenza and emphasized the complexity of tracking and preventing. She highlights the need for integrated, cross-species surveillance and communication strategies.

She also touched on emerging threats, including New World screwworm (NWS) . Her message emphasized the importance of prevention, control and preparedness.

She shares these five key strategies related to NWS:

Surveillance. Early dection through wound inspections and reporting in livestock.
Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). Ongoing release of serile male flies to prevent reproduction.
Biosecurity. Movement control of imported animals and monitoring at entry points.
Public Awareness. Education for doctors, ranchers, veterinarians and travelers.
Rapid Response Planning. Multi-agency coordination to contain outbreaks swiftly and deploy sterile flies.

Agricultural Literacy, Communication is Key

“Growing up in the middle of nowhere, I also came to understand that not everyone appreciates — or even understands — where their food comes from,” Nichols says.

She shared a 1993 study that revealed significant gaps in public knowledge about agriculture. She summarizes understanding food systems involves knowing:

Where food comes from.
How it’s produced.
Its impact on economy, environment and technology.

Throughout her lecture she shared the importance of transforming complex scientific concepts into engaging, accessible insights that resonate with students, farmers, ranchers and public health professionals alike.

“It doesn’t matter how much information we have if we don’t get it out to the people,” Nichols says.

She stresses the importance of agricultural communication specialists in translating scientific information and engaging audiences.

“Don’t leave the communications to the scientists,” she says.

Nichols emphasizes that agricultural literacy and effective communication are crucial for bridging knowledge gaps and building public understanding of food systems.

She shares this advice for agricultural advocates:

Bring agricultural perspective to discussions by speaking up and sharing lived experiences.
Challenge misconceptions with personal stories by focusing on storytelling rather than technical details.
Understand your audience and use relatable language and provide context.

Nichols stresses the importance of preparedness and collaboration. She explains the importance of local-level discussions and community preparedness, suggesting that some of the most effective emergency preparedness conversations happen “at the coffee house” or during casual community gatherings.

How Much Meat Will the U.S. Eat in 2025 and 2026?

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 15:48:45 GMT

Domestic availability of red meat, poultry and eggs is projected to increase in 2025, driven by gains in chicken and pork availability, and is expected to rise further in 2026, reports the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS). This increase stems from USDA’s forecast of per capita supply available for use on the domestic market.

How are these numbers determined? ERS says availability, also known as disappearance, serves as a proxy for consumption and includes fresh and processed meat and eggs sold through grocery stores and used in restaurants.

“The latest USDA data indicate 226 lb. of red meat and poultry and about 22 dozen eggs are available per U.S. consumer in 2025. By 2026, per capita availability is forecast to increase to 227 lb. for red meat and poultry and to 23 dozen eggs,” ERS reports.

Data for 2025 and 2026 are forecasts. Per capita meat availability serves as a proxy for consumption and does not reflect indirect uses, such as pet food or food waste.

(Data: USDA)

Chicken Projected to Be Most Consumed Animal Product
For chicken, per capita availability of broiler meat has been growing for many years and is projected to reach 102.7 lb. in 2025 and 102.8 lb. in 2026, ERS says. This will make it the most consumed animal product in the U.S.

However, availability of turkey has been falling in recent years and is projected to reach a low of 13.0 lb.per person in 2025 but increase to 13.6 lb. in 2026.

Per capita table egg availability for 2025 is projected at 21.5 dozen and is projected to increase to 22.9 dozen per person in 2026.

Pork and Beef Projections
ERS reports that pork availability per capita is projected at 49.7 lb. in 2025 and 50.9 lb. in 2026, up from 49.9 lb. in 2024.

Meanwhile, per capita beef availability for 2025 is projected to be slightly lower than 2024 at 58.5 lb., but is projected to decrease further to 56.9 lb. per person in 2026.

More Funding Going to Tackle HPAI H5N1, Egg Imports are Now Underway to Stabilize Supply

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 17:41:08 GMT

On Thursday morning, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins gave an update on progress the Trump administration is making on the five-prong strategy it unveiled Feb. 26 to combat avian influenza virus type A (H5N1).

Speaking to industry stakeholders, media and offices of elected officials, Rollins focused on the administration’s work to lower egg prices and improve supply, while also emphasizing the importance of biosecurity in protecting U.S. poultry flocks from the virus.

Regarding egg prices, she said wholesale prices are down nearly 50% from their peak in late February from $8.53 then to $4.08 currently.

However, Rollins said she realizes that wholesale prices don’t automatically show up as reductions in retail prices.

“I know for some of us who are shopping that we’ve seen egg prices drop immediately, which has been true for me. But then we’ll hear from people in other parts of the country where they have yet to see that reduction on their grocery store shelf.”

With Easter just a few weeks away, she acknowledged that egg demand is always “unusually high during the season,” and that egg prices could potentially move back up.

To help address the egg shortage, Rollins noted that shell egg exports have declined by 8%, “keeping more eggs in the U.S. and lowering prices.”

In addition, the Trump administration is allowing egg imports as a temporary measure to stabilize prices and supply. Rollins’ chief of staff Kailee Buller said this measure would likely be discontinued once those measures were achieved.

USDA Focuses On Biosecurity For Poultry Operations
Rollins said biosecurity in poultry flocks will continue to be a major part of the Trump administration’s plan to address H5N1, moving forward.

“Our pilot programs have proven that biosecurity is the most important thing our farmers can do to protect our flocks against the disease, at least right now,” she said.

The USDA is working closely, she said, with its federal partners including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “combat avian flu as a unified federal family.”

On Wednesday, USDA announced it is expanding the availability of its biosecurity assessments to commercial poultry producers.

“These assessments, which were previously available on a limited basis have been extremely successful in improving biosecurity on individual premises and preventing the introduction or spread of avian influenza,” Rollins said.

While USDA is exploring the viability of vaccinating poultry for H5N1, she said the use of any vaccine for poultry or any animal species has not been authorized at this time.

“I know there has been some misreporting on that,” Rollins said. “The day we rolled out the plan, I actually talked about the fact that we’re not ready to vaccinate. We need to do some more research, and so that has not changed, but I do look forward to this next process of learning more about getting more research done and perhaps seeing what makes sense for the country moving forward, once that is concluded.”

Dairy Is Not Part Of USDA’s Primary H5N1 Focus
No information was offered during the conference call to address the issue of H5N1 in dairy cattle or other livestock or animal species.

Mike Watson, administrator of USDA-APHIS, said right now USDA is focused on the poultry vaccine.

“We’re looking for a vaccine that has sterilizing immunity but also an opportunity for us to have different introduction methods for the vaccine right now, as injections are the only possibility,” he said. “We need new tools, whether it’s water based, aerosol based, those kind of things. We’re looking for manufacturers to really look at what those options might be, to really provide us with a vaccine that matches the current strain but also is highly effective. And again, this is really focused on poultry.”

Buller said there is already quite a bit of research at USDA on the topic in dairy.

“Please rest assured, we are thinking of you all (in dairy). We know you all are impacted. But for this particular strategy, we have been hyper-focused on the poultry side. USDA has separate work streams as we’re working through this on the cattle and dairy side.”

One of the media asked whether Sec. Rollins had talked further with HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding his idea of letting H5N1 burn through poultry flocks to identify birds that might have immunity or show resistance to the virus.

Buller answered the question, as Rollins had stepped away from the call. “I have not been engaged specifically with those conversations with the Secretary and Secretary Kennedy,” she said. “They are talking very regularly and you are aligned on the approach, but in terms of that specific topic, there’s no further light I can shed on that at this time.”

Assessments Available To Poultry Operations
USDA is offering two different, free, voluntary biosecurity assessments for poultry operations not currently affected by HPAI.

The first is a wildlife biosecurity assessment. The second is a general biosecurity assessment. Poultry producers can request one or both of these free assessments.

Per the wildlife biosecurity assessment, Rollins said USDA will conduct on-farm assessments at poultry facilities and provide recommendations to producers for facility repairs and wildlife management techniques. The assessments include a series of regular engagements, including wildlife hazard identification surveys, wildlife abundance surveys and wildlife management on the premises.

“USDA has assessed approximately 130 facilities to date (in 2025), and plans on doing significantly more moving forward and expanding that program,” she said.

For the general biosecurity assessment, USDA will work with poultry producers to review biosecurity plans and physical measures.

“This is a proactive resource for premises that are outside of avian flu control areas to identify and mitigate potential biosecurity gaps,” she said.

Funding Is Ramped Up To Address HPAI In Poultry
The USDA announced on Thursday that up to $100 million in funding will be available to support projects on avian influenza, prevention, therapeutics, vaccines and research.

“USDA will invest up to $100 million in these projects, which will identify and foster innovative solutions to fight avian flu and directly support American producers,” Rollins said during the conference call.

Funding is available through a competitive process to for-profit organizations, including manufacturers of vaccines, biologics and therapeutics, as well as states, universities, livestock producer organizations and other eligible entities, she noted.

USDA will prioritize one or more of the following. First, it will support the development of novel therapeutics to address HPAI in poultry. Second, it will support research to further understand the risk pathways of avian influenza for producers and to inform improved biosecurity and response strategies.

“Let me just say, as a quick aside, I’ve had multiples and multiples and multiples of conversations with some of our chicken farmers across the country —many of them have been highly successful at not having the bird flu infect their populations,” Rollins said. “Better understanding of risk pathways and realizing what best practices are is a big part of (this work).”

The third focus is on the development of novel vaccines to protect poultry from H5N1 while promoting biosecurity.

“That will all be part of the research funding opportunity that we announced about an hour and a half ago,” Rollins said.

USDA will test the efficacy of therapeutic interventions to prevent the virus and treat infected flocks.

“USDA, in consultation with HHS, has already had multiple conversations with Secretary Kennedy and leaders in the NIH and CDC, but will also be exploring prevention strategies to promote biosecurity in agriculture and in humans, to ensure limited impact on American farmers,” Rollins noted.

USDA is offering a webinar to assist interested applicants in learning more about the funding opportunity and how to submit a proposal on Tuesday, April 1 at 12 p.m. Eastern. No details on how to participate in the webinar have been communicated yet.

“As we try to do everything under this president and here at USDA, we will be as fast and efficient and effective as we can possibly be, working around the clock,” Rollins said.

Buller added that Sec. Rollins and her staff will continue to host update calls regularly.

“It’s very important to Sec. Rollins that we are showing progress on this five-prong plan and being honest and open with the public about what we’re up to and the progress and potential challenges that we have ahead,” Buller said. “We have an open door here, and we remain open to having conversations and hearing from stakeholders.”

Hemp Seed Livestock Meal Receives Green Lights On Way to Federal Approval

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:07:07 GMT

After years of work and regulatory paperwork, the The Hemp Feed Coalition announces Hemp Seed Meal for laying hens has been recommended by FDA-Center for Veterinary Medicine and voted by AAFCO into their Ingredient Definition Committee for the final step in the approval pathway.

The definition allows hemp seed meal up to 20% into feed mixes for laying hens. This marks the first hemp feed ingredient to get federal recommendation and uptake by AAFCO.

Wendy Mosher, CEO at New West Genetics and vice president of Hemp Feed Coalition, says this is something that has been in the works for at least four years.

“There’s a lengthy process for any new crop to get ingredient approval, but it’s worth it, you can’t have commodity crop without a feed opportunity for that crop,” Mosher says. “Federal approval gives us a leg up into adoption and scale.”

Mosher says before deregulation in 2014, hemp acres were zero, then by 2020, climbed to a peak of around 400,000 acres. Today, total U.S. hemp acres are reported around 55,000.

“I think this is a positive thing—it shows with the right incentives crops can be expanded rapidly, and that those participants with long term vision are still here, and are building the markets in a sustainable fashion. Hemp is a great opportunity for the crop rotation as well as soil health” Mosher says. “Hempseed meal as a feed ingredient contributes to the risk mitigation of planting the crop—it’s another place for the crop to go.”

As a feed ingredient, the coalition cites hemp grain providing essential vitamins, minerals, healthy oils, and a complete protein profile. For egg production, this can lead to a value-added product with higher omega 3 content. It has been verified that any potential cannabinoid contaminants do not transfer into the egg product.

With the regulatory obstacles starting to be removed, Mosher is optimistic about the educational opportunities for the market to increase in size.

“Hemp can serve the same basic protein and oil markets that currently use soybeans or canola,” she says. “Feed manufacturers are seeing success, including Wenger Feeds in Pennsylvania who make hemp feed for Kreider Farms’ eggs. In the next year we hope to get some additional adoption by some larger players.”

Mosher highlights her company, New West Genetics, has been developing improved hemp varieties to double grain yield.

“We’ve got momentum in hemp as we are providing high yielding and adapted genetics for hemp production in the U.S., and the industry is also near the finish line on this feed approval,” she says. “It’s a moment we’ve been waiting on for 10 years. In the not so distant future, we hope to see hemp on the million acre scale.”

FDA Approves Lab-Grown Chicken for the First Time

Fri, 18 Nov 2022 20:57:22 GMT

The FDA approved lab-grown chicken for the first time, greenlighting products from startup Upside Foods for human consumption. If Upside gets USDA approval next, the company said it could start pumping out 50,000 pounds of “no-kill” meat products every year.

The news follows Upside’s April announcement that it had secured $400 million in Series C funding, moving the company “from R&D to commercialization,” according to CEO Uma Valeti.

“Our team...continues to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges in our mission to make our favorite food a force for good,” said Valeti.

Upside, with 140 employees, has now garnered over $600 million in funding from names like Bill Gates and meat companies Tyson and Cargill.

Brian Sikes, Cargill COO, stresses his team’s commitment to meatless meat:

“Our continued support for UPSIDE’s innovative work underscores Cargill’s commitment to an inclusive approach to wholesome, sustainable protein that will meet customer and consumer needs now and in the future.”

Meanwhile, Beyond Meat announced it would lay off 19% of staff last month, and retail sales in the plant-based meat industry overall have dropped 10% in the past year.

More on lab-grown meat :

Beyond Meat Faces Lawsuit Over False Protein Content and Quality Claims
Hoxton Farms Raises $22 Million for Cultivated Animal Fat

Could Virtual Reality Videos Boost Poultry Health?

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 20:39:46 GMT

Can watching videos boost hens’ welfare and health? Iowa State University researchers believe it could.

Using virtual reality technology, scientists simulated a free-range environment in laying hen housing. They found that showing hens VR scenes of chickens in more “natural” environments reduced indicators of stress in the hens’ blood and gut microbiota. The virtual reality scenes also induced biochemical changes related to increased resistance to E. coli bacteria, which poses health risks to poultry and to humans who eat contaminated eggs, according to a release .

To conduct the study, the researchers displayed video projections of chickens in free-range environments during a high-risk period for stress to a group of 34 hens from commercial poultry flocks. The hens were exposed to the videos over five days on all four walls of their housing about 15 weeks after hatching, a stage when commercial layer hens are regularly moved from pullet to egg-laying facilities.

Scenes showed indoor facilities with access to an outdoor fenced scratch area and unfenced open prairie with grasses, shrubs and flowers, the release said. The visual-only recordings showed diverse groups of free-range chickens performing activities associated with positive poultry behaviors based on time of day, such as preening, perching, dust-bathing and nesting. Meanwhile, videos were not shown to a control group of the same size and age in the same type of housing.

(Farm Journal)

_{Representative pictures of virtual reality scenes shown in chickens’ pens during pilot study. The video images were projected on vinyl projector screens placed against each pen wall. Photos courtesy of Melha Mellata, Iowa State University.}

When the treatment period ended, researchers analyzed both blood and tissues from the chickens, as well as samples of their intestinal microbiota. The chickens in the treatment group showed several beneficial changes compared to the control group such as lower indicators of stress and an increased resistance to Avian Pathogenic E. coli bacteria that can cause sepsis and death in young birds.

“There are many challenges associated with free-range production environments for laying hens, including potential for additional injuries, disease and risks from predators. However, hens in free-range environments do tend to engage more often in positive, ‘normal’ behaviors that seem to enhance their overall health and immunity,” Melha Mellata, associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, said in the release. “It’s intriguing to think that even just showing hens free-range environments can stimulate similar immunological benefits.”

The idea came about after Mellata attended a seminar on new uses of virtual reality in different fields presented by James Oliver, director of the Virtual Reality Applications Center.

“We need more research, but this suggests virtual reality could be a relatively simple tool to improve poultry health in confined environments and improve food safety,” Mellata said in the release. “It could also be a relatively inexpensive way to reduce infections and the need for antibiotics in egg production.”

The team hopes to expand the research to conduct a similar study over a longer time, with more chickens and chickens at different stages, to see if the results can be replicated.

“Future research in collaboration with our partners in veterinary medicine is also needed to investigate the neurochemical mechanisms linking the visual stimuli to changes in the chickens’ intestines,” Mellata explained in the release.

Editor’s Note: Support for this research came from an Iowa State University Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Seed Grant. The pilot study, reported in the journal Frontiers of Science, was led by Melha Mellata, associate professor, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, and Graham Redweik, a recent doctoral student in the Interdepartmental Microbiology Graduate Program at Iowa State, who is now at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The multidisciplinary collaborative Iowa State project team also included James Oliver, director, Virtual Reality Applications Center; Suzanne Millman, professor, Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine; and Mark Lyte, professor, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventative Medicine.

“Not Guilty” – Chicken Price-Fixing Trial Ends

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 15:41:45 GMT

The verdict is in and the five chicken industry executives on trial for conspiracy and bid rigging from 2012 to 2019 were acquitted by a jury in Denver federal court, Bloomberg reports . The verdict comes after two mistrials were declared when previous juries could not reach a decision. The decision was announced Thursday after more than a day of deliberations.

The verdict is considered a stinging defeat for Department of Justice prosecutors who moved forward with the case despite the two previous failures by narrowing their focus from 10 individuals to five. Acquitted in the case were former Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. chief executive officers Jayson Penn and William Lovette; Roger Austin, a former Pilgrim’s vice president; Mikell Fries, president of Claxton Poultry; and Scott Brady, a Claxton vice president.

Each defendant faced the possibility of a 10-year prison sentence and million-dollar fines if convicted.

When the DOJ announced it would pursue a third trial, US District Judge Philip Brimmer summoned Jonathan Kanter, the head of DOJ’s Antitrust Division, to Denver in April to explain why, after two hung juries, the government believed it could still win convictions.

“We know that the evidence couldn’t persuade 12 people,” a skeptical Brimmer told Kanter at the time. “We’ve seen it happen twice.”

“This case should never have been brought,” Bloomberg quoted Penn’s attorney, Michael Tubach, as saying after Thursday’s verdict.

The Justice Department issued a statement calling the verdict “disappointing,” but said “we will continue to vigorously enforce the antitrust laws, especially when it comes to price-fixing schemes that affect core staples. We will not be deterred from continuing to vigilantly pursue cases to protect the American people and our markets.”

Charges were first filed in the summer of 2021 after a years-long federal investigation that targeted the biggest producers in the $95 billion chicken market. Tyson said in 2020 it was cooperating with the investigation and cited a government policy that grants leniency to companies that are the first to disclose illegal price-fixing.

Longtime Pilgrim’s Pride employee Robert Bryant testified at all three trials for the government, claiming an industry-wide agreement to share price and bid information to inflate profits or limit losses, given specific market conditions.

Testifying under a grant of immunity from prosecution, Bryant admitted on cross-examination that he had lied to the FBI “multiple times” on matters unrelated to the price-fixing investigation.

Related stories:

Pilgrim’s Pride Agrees To $110 Million Price-Fixing Fine

Second Mistrial In Poultry Price-Fixing Case

Tyson Cooperating With DOJ In Broiler Probe

Second Mistrial In Poultry Price-Fixing Case

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 19:37:42 GMT

The U.S. Justice Department has tried and failed twice in its efforts to prove price-fixing among chicken industry executives.

A federal judge in Denver has declared a second mistrial after a jury deadlocked over whether 10 chicken company executives had conspired to fix prices. The first trial ended in December 2021.

U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer ended the case on March 29 after jurors said they were unable to reach a verdict after four days of deliberations. The 10 executives had worked for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Perdue Farms LLC, Claxton Poultry, Tyson Foods Inc., Koch Foods Inc., Case Farms and George’s Inc.

The DOJ alleged the executives engaged “…in a continuing combination and conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by rigging bids and fixing prices and other price-related terms for broiler chicken products sold in the United States.”

Should the government seek a third trial as they have indicated, Judge Brimmer is demanding an explanation from the head of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter.

“I am going to order that the head of the antitrust division come in here within the next week and look me in the eye and explain to me why the government is going to retry this case,” Brimmer said Tuesday according to a Bloomberg report.

“If the government thinks that the 10 defendants and their attorneys and my staff and another group of jurors should spend six weeks retrying this case after the government has failed in two attempts to convict even one defendant, then certainly Mr. Kanter has the time to come to Denver and explain to me why the Department of Justice thinks that that is an appropriate thing to do,” Brimmer said.

The DOJ had alleged an eight-year conspiracy to fix prices, but the two mistrials suggest the difficulty in government efforts to police competition in food markets. The men had faced up to 10 years in prison and $1 million fines if convicted.

Jurors in both trials heard from Robert Bryant, a longtime Pilgrim’s Pride employee who’s currently on leave. As the government’s star witness, Bryant testified an industry-wide agreement existed to share price and bid information to inflate profits or limit losses, depending on the market.

Undermining Bryant’s testimony was the fact he appeared under grant of immunity from prosecution as he admitted that he had lied to the FBI “multiple times” on matters unrelated to the price-fixing probe.

Another prosecution witness was Tyson sales manager Carl Pepper, who told jurors about coordinating prices among the competitors.

Lawyers for the defendants argued that both men had lied to avoid prison. The defense argued that it’s not illegal simply to share pricing information and that the government can’t prove that the defendants all agreed to participate in a single, overarching conspiracy.

Related stories:

Judge Declares Mistrial In Chicken Antitrust Case

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Found in Commercial Chickens in Missouri

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:54:18 GMT

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a flock of commercial broiler chickens in Stoddard County, Mo.

Samples from the flock were tested at the University of Missouri Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, part of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, and confirmed at the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, USDA said in a release.

APHIS is working closely with state animal health officials in Missouri on a joint incident response. The affected premises has been quarantined, and birds on the properties will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system, the release said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recent HPAI detections do not present an immediate public health concern and no human cases of these viruses have been detected in the U.S.

As part of existing avian influenza response plans, federal and state partners are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in areas around the affected flock. APHIS will continue to announce the first case of HPAI in commercial and backyard flocks detected in a state but will not announce subsequent detections in the state.

The U.S. has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world, and USDA is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations, the agency noted.

Anyone involved with poultry production from the small backyard to the large commercial producer should review their biosecurity activities to assure the health of their birds. APHIS offers information here .

USDA will report these findings to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as well as international trading partners. The agency also continues to communicate with trading partners to encourage adherence to OIE standards and minimize trade impacts. OIE trade guidelines call on countries to base trade restrictions on sound science and, whenever possible, limit restrictions to those animals and animal products within a defined region that pose a risk of spreading disease of concern, the release said.

All cases in commercial and backyard flocks will be listed on the APHIS website .

Read More:

Monitoring Helps Stem Spread of Avian Flu, K-State Expert Says

Highly Lethal Avian Influenza Spreading Across U.S., Now Reported in Kentucky Commercial Chicken Flock

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 19:23:56 GMT

A commercial chicken flock in Kentucky tested positive for a highly lethal form of bird flu, officials said on Monday, widening an outbreak that threatens the U.S. poultry industry.

Infections in the chickens being raised for meat are set to trigger more restrictions on U.S. poultry exports, after buyers like China and Korea limited purchases from Indiana last week due to an outbreak at a commercial turkey farm there.

The broiler chickens in Fulton County, Kentucky, located near the border with Tennessee, were infected with the same H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian flu as the turkeys in Indiana, Kentucky officials said.

They are awaiting final lab confirmation of another suspected outbreak among turkeys in Webster County, Kentucky.

Birds from infected flocks will be culled and will not enter the food system, state officials said.

“We are working diligently to prevent this virus from spreading to other poultry premises,” said Katie Flynn, Kentucky’s state veterinarian.

Federal and state authorities are testing commercial and backyard poultry flocks nearby in Kentucky and Tennessee.

The disease was also detected in a backyard flock of birds in Fauquier County, Virginia, that have already been culled, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The cases do not present an immediate public health concern, the agency said.

Wild birds are thought to be spreading the virus, after dozens tested positive for the flu along the U.S. East Coast.

The United States is the world’s largest producer and second-largest exporter of poultry meat, according to the U.S. government. Kentucky said it is the seventh biggest chicken-meat producing state.

The disease is hitting the market as poultry supplies are down due to strong demand and labor shortages at meat plants during to the COVID-19 pandemic. Government data showed U.S. frozen chicken supplies were down 14% from a year ago at the end of December while turkey inventories were down 23%.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

2019 Meat Production and Consumption

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 17:37:53 GMT

Total 2019 meat production in the U.S. is currently projected to reach another record level of 103.3 billion pounds, up 1.3 percent year over year. However, per capita meat consumption may decrease slightly to 217.3 pounds from the 2018 level of 218.6 pounds. The decrease in per capita meat consumption reflects improved meat trade with projected decreases in meat imports and increased meat exports along with normal population growth. Total 2019 meat imports are projected to decrease to 4.3 billion pounds, the lowest since 2013, with record meat exports of 17.4 billion pounds. Total meat includes beef, pork, broiler, turkey, other chicken, veal and lamb.

Record per capita meat consumption occurred in 2004 at 221.9 pounds. At that time lower population, higher meat imports, and meat exports less than half of today’s level were sufficient to increase per capita consumption despite lower total meat production in 2004 which, at 85.1 billion pounds, was 17.6 percent smaller than today.

Beef production in 2019 is projected to increase to another record at 27.2 billion pounds, up about 1.1 percent over last year. Weather impacts are holding carcass weights well below year ago levels so far this year and annual average carcass weights are projected to only increase slightly year over year. Cattle slaughter is projected to increase about one percent year over year. With beef imports projected to decrease and beef exports expected to increase again in 2019, per capita beef consumption is expected to decrease to 56.8 pounds (retail basis), down from 57.1 pounds one year ago.

The March Hogs and Pigs report from USDA-NASS showed continued growth in the U.S. pork industry with year over year increases in all hog, breeding hog and market hog inventories. Pork production in 2019 is projected to increase about 2.9 percent to 27.1 billion pounds. Per capita pork consumption is expected to increase slightly from last year to 51.0 pounds per capita. An improved pork trade balance is projected with year over year decreases in pork imports and significant increases in pork exports. Higher projected pork exports are partly due to anticipated increases in pork imports in China as a result of losses in Chinese pork production due to African Swine Fever.

Broiler production estimates have been trimmed from earlier expectations with current projections of a 1.1 percent increase in broiler production in 2019 to 42.6 billion pounds. Per capita broiler consumption is projected to decrease fractionally year over year to 92.0 pounds in 2019 with increased broiler exports taking up most of the increase in production. Turkey production and consumption are both projected to decrease in 2019. Total poultry, including broiler, turkey and other chicken production is projected to be fractionally higher in 2019.

These projections reflect estimates and analysis by the Livestock Marketing Information Center and me. Of course, the estimates are likely to change as market conditions change and new information becomes available. Many factors may impact meat production and consumption this year including weather, disease, trade, U.S. and global macroeconomic conditions, feed markets and others.

Tyson Foods Raises Prices, Scrambles to Keep Up with Inflation

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 18:04:00 GMT

Tyson Foods Inc cannot increase prices for chicken and prepared foods fast enough to keep pace with rising costs for raw materials like grain, Chief Executive Donnie King said on Monday, after the company reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings.

The meat company lifted its 2021 revenue forecast due to strong beef demand as sales of steaks and burgers from U.S. restaurants and hotels recovered following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. U.S. beef exports are also robust.

But costs are also increasing, a potential drag on future earnings.

Tyson has increased prices for restaurant customers to offset inflation and plans to raise retail prices on Sept. 5, King said on a conference call with analysts. More increases are planned, he said.

“Costs are hitting us faster than we can get pricing at this point,” King said.

Branded and value-added products are particularly affected by inflation, which reached 14% in the quarter ended on July 3, he said.

“We’ve seen unprecedented and accelerating inflation, and we’re trying to catch up with that,” King told reporters.

Tyson increased its average price for pork by 39.3% in the last quarter, while it raised beef and chicken prices 11.6% and 15.6% respectively. Sales volumes also increased.

Total quarterly sales climbed to $12.48 billion from $10.02 billion a year earlier, topping analysts’ estimates for $11.49 billion.

Net income attributable to Tyson increased to $2.05 per share from $1.44 a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Tyson earned $2.70 per share, crushing estimates of $1.62, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The Jimmy Dean hotdogs maker said it expects total sales of about $46 billion to $47 billion for fiscal 2021, compared with an earlier forecast of $44 billion to $46 billion.

The company, which is mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for U.S. employees, said rising coronavirus cases have made it harder to find workers. “We were on a good trajectory and then the Delta variant showed up,” King said.

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru and Tom Polansek in Chicago, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Chizu Nomiyama and Steve Orlofsky)

Will Chicken Wing Shortage Open Doors for More Pig Wing Sales?

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 19:21:25 GMT

The chicken wing shortage is ruffling a few feathers, reports AgDay host Clinton Griffiths. Restaurants across the country are reporting a shortage of chicken wings, specifically bone-in varieties.

A spokesperson for Chicago-based U.S. Foods told the Associated Press (AP) that the industry is experiencing some supply challenges and that meat processors are having a hard time keeping up with increased demand.

Chicken wing production remained steady throughout 2020, although some reports show chicken production down slightly from the previous year, the Chicken Council reports show the numbers as almost precisely flat, AP reports.

Paul Aho, an international chicken consultant who owns Poultry Perspective, told the AP that wing demand tends to be more inelastic than with other chicken products. If breast meat gets too expensive, consumers buy less. This is not true with wings, he noted.

Because of this, the small shortfall in wing supply can cause a big jump in price. For chicken wings, AP reports this spring could be a perfect storm for high wing prices with the high demand and relatively flat supply. As a result, some restaurants are cutting profits while others are raising prices, and some are doing both.

Could Pig Wings Solve the Problem?
When the pandemic hit, many restaurants went to a carry-out wing business. Bob File, president of Pioneer Meats, says the same thing that is happening with chicken wings is happening with pig wings.

In 2003, File and his partner trademarked the pig wing which comes from the shank and offers twice the meat of a standard chicken wing.

Unfortunately, pig wings are facing the same shortage of labor as the chicken industry.

“Demand has come back and grown since restaurants are reopening, but the difficulty is in the plants being able to produce at the same level prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he says.

File estimates that they are only able to produce between 25% and 35% of the pig wings they produced pre-pandemic.

“Demand has went up ten-fold, but we can’t deliver on it. I work with multiple suppliers, and they are all struggling to get employees,” he says. “It’s not an issue of product, it’s an issue of labor to process it.”

In the meantime, File says he’s continuing to work on innovating new pork items.

Read more:
Maybe Pigs Can Fly: Pork “Wings” Rise in Popularity

The Carbon-Neutral Pig and Chicken: The Pivotal Moment is Now

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 19:09:11 GMT

Building trust in food begins with empowering farmers through one of the largest and most diverse conservation- and sustainability-focused public-private partnerships in our nation’s history: America’s Conservation Ag Movement. To find the latest news and resources related to the Movement, visit AgWeb.com/ACAM .

Installing solar modules. Injecting manure into the soil. Planting cover crops. Switching to LED light bulbs. Converting manure into energy. The list goes on and on when it comes to the number of ways pork and poultry producers are advancing conservation and sustainable farming practices in their operations.

Admittedly that sounds good on paper. But do those factors fully capture what sustainability means to a livestock operation?

“Your confusion is my confusion,” says Brett Kaysen, vice president of sustainability at the National Pork Board. “As an animal scientist, I am peppered daily to define sustainability. The United Nations would define it as a balance of economic, environmental and social concerns.”

The reality is that no universally accepted definition exists. Sustainability is defined by business owners and operators such as farmers as they see it through their eyes, Kaysen explains.

What Does It Mean to You?
For Sanderson Farms, the No. 3 poultry processor in the U.S., the term “sustainability” didn’t resonate early in its conservation journey.

“We didn’t like the term ‘sustainability.’ We thought it should simply be ‘responsibility,’” says Pic Billingsley, director of development and engineering for the company. “We’ve got a saying here that you can’t manage what you can’t see.”

In 2008, Sanderson Farms started looking more closely at its data, including natural gas and other utilities and products in its business that create emissions. Because they took the time to create a baseline, they can now evaluate what they’ve done to date to reduce their carbon footprint.

“If you’d told me 30 years ago that we would be able to do this, it would at times have been a reach to me,” Billingsley says. “Now we’ve got systems in place that take the methane gas off of our anaerobic lagoon as part of our wastewater plant. Then, it goes through and cleans it up to a natural gas–a pipeline-quality natural gas that we can use in our facilities.”

And that’s where conservation becomes important.

“Conservation to us means utilizing only that amount of natural resources that you absolutely have to have to do your business,” Billingsley says. “It’s simple. There’s nothing hard about it – you only take what you need.”

For other industry leaders, conservation and sustainability are synonymous. Farmers have to be environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable in order to be around for the future, and the terms capture those principles, says Ryan Bennett, executive director of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry and Eggs and the International Poultry Welfare Alliance.

“Conservation is usually focused more on that environmentally sound aspect of sustainability,” Bennett says. “But if what we’re doing is not also socially responsible and economically viable, it’s not possible to implement conservation practices. On the same hand, if we’re not doing something that’s environmentally sound, then we’re not going to remain economically viable and be able to continue to produce poultry and eggs in a sustainable manner in the future.”

An emphasis on conservation enables producers to both reduce impact today while also making decisions that will have beneficial outcomes for the poultry value chain in the future, Bennett explains.

Solar modules at Triple E Farms near Altona, Ill. Photo by Dan Erickson.

The Pivotal Moment is Now
Although transportation and energy use are the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, according to 2018 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, scrutiny is often placed on agriculture, which accounts for roughly 10% of emissions. Kaysen sees that as an opportunity for farmers to continuing be part of the solution.

“I’m not so sure that the pivotal moment in our journey to more sustainable livestock production isn’t now,” he adds. “Whether or not you believe the wildfires in California are attributed to climate change, there’s no debate that the climate is changing. We know that people on this globe have an impact on the environment. But we also know if there’s ever been a time in the history of the world, now’s the time where agriculture can be a part of the solution.”

Farmers have demonstrated they can capture and reduce carbon. In Kaysen’s mind, that’s a huge opportunity.

“Since Day 1, farmers have had this continuous improvement idea, and we’re committed to that. The beautiful thing for farmers in general is they can be part of the solution. But being part of the solution actually rewards them on farm, too,” he says.

The benefits extend beyond just economics.

“I like the word “reward” because it can mean a lot of different things. Often, we default to ‘How am I going to make money?’ That’s part of it, but there’s other rewards. I think this is an opportunity for farmers to be seen as climate change heroes.”

Sustainability and conservation efforts require your whole team working together, says Pic Billingsley. Photo by National Pork Board and the Pork Checkoff.

Carbon-Neutral Livestock Production
One of the topics bringing animal protein groups together is feed, Bennett says. Many resources go into creating feed for poultry and pigs. Bennett and his colleagues across the protein complex want to explore how farmers and the industry can make even better use of the resources used to make feed.

“We have a shared vision of improving sustainability within our respective programs, and we realize there are many things we can work together on,” Bennett says.

The science and technology needed to reach these goals is still developing. Kaysen says improvements will require communication and collaboration.

“I think the barnyard—dairy, poultry, beef, lamb, pork— realizes that we’re stronger together than we are apart. We’ve got enough folks coming at us from the outside. We don’t need to do that from the inside,” Kaysen adds. “I do think there’s an opportunity for us to convene more often in a collaborative approach, while not disparaging each other.”

By 2035, Kaysen believes the pork industry can create a carbon-neutral pig. He applauds the dairy industry’s announcement on Earth Day this year to produce a carbon-neutral dairy cow by 2050.

“I think it’s bold, I applaud them for taking that step,” Kaysen says. “I think we’ll have the opportunity to prove it at a high level that the majority of pigs in this country are raised in a carbon neutral or carbon negative way.”

Whether you raise chickens or pigs doesn’t matter, Billingsley says. What matters is your commitment to take a deeper look at the products and inputs you use on your farm and to only use what you need. Then, you must work to convey those values so they become important to everyone in your organization.

“It’s got to be a culture,” Billingsley says. “Your whole team has to understand that for your company to be good, this is the world we live in today. This isn’t yesterday. The world today expects you to minimize your footprint on this earth.”

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Two-Headed Consumer Demands Change from Farmers, Food Companies

Sprawling Urban Development Threatens Livestock Production

Consumers Speak Up: Sustainable Farmers Wanted

How Should the Animal Feed Industry Value Soy Protein?

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 15:01:23 GMT

When it comes to livestock diets, soy is traditionally evaluated on one metric: crude protein. However, recent research shows that crude protein is not the best indicator for meeting the nutritional needs of livestock. The U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) shared why soybeans aren’t all created equal and how buyers can discern how those differences impact profitability during the Commodity Classic on March 3.

Is U.S. Soy Really Better?
2020 data revealed that U.S. soy was lower in crude protein content compared to 2019, said Maria Mayorga, a livestock nutritionist and a USSEC regional poultry technical expert. So, USSEC took a deeper look into the differences.

“We saw actually that we were providing 12 more kCals of net energy for grower pigs and sows, which is pretty interesting, because we found out that the composition between the soybean meals from the U.S. in 2020 and 2019 were different,” Mayorga said. “In 2020, we got more total sugars and more starch, which are readily available energy sources. Also, we got more sucrose in 2020 compared to 2019.”

Despite the decrease in crude protein U.S. soy saw in 2020, U.S. soy was providing more energy and more amino acids for the animal to grow efficiently, Mayorga said.

In addition to evaluating processing indicators, USSEC evaluated soy from different origins and saw a similar trend. U.S. soy had a lower crude protein content than competitors Brazil and Bolivia. But Mayorga noted U.S. soy had a higher content of sugars than Brazil and Bolivia and similar content to Argentina.

“We also analyzed the amino acid profile of different origins and found that we get advantages compared to Argentina and Bolivia. Sometimes this profile is highly dynamic and sometimes we get advantages over other origins. Depending on the time of the year and the season, we are able to detect those differences regarding relative abundance of amino acids,” Mayorga said. “However, if we analyze the digestibility, which represented what is really available for the animals to grow, and to absorb efficiently, we can see that U.S. soy exhibited higher levels of digestibility regarding essential and non-essential amino acids.”

She noted the research shows U.S. soy provides more kCals per kilo of soybean meal than Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia.

“That’s very interesting, because regardless of protein content, we are providing more energy for the animals to grow and to maintain vital functions,” Mayorga said. “Remember, energy cannot be manufactured, so we have to provide that through the diet.”

Show Me the Money
Although this may sound appealing, people are more interested in how it pencils out financially, said Jim Sutter, USSEC CEO.

“People want to know, ‘What are the economics of all this? Sure, you’ve told me there are more kCals or there’s more lysine, but how do you turn that into dollars and cents? And what does it mean for someone who is raising chickens or pigs somewhere around the world and is deciding which type of soybean meal to use?’” Sutter said.

A new tool created by Genesis Feed Technologies, in collaboration with USSEC, will help people answer that question, he said.

“It’s a very elaborate tool that does feed formulation and allows whoever the feeder is, the person producing the feed or feeding the livestock, to put their own formulation parameters in,” Sutter said. “They can put in their own data about the quality of the product and their own pricing information in, but then it gives them a financial result for the dollars-and-cents impact of using one origin of soy versus another origin of soy.”

In essence, the nutrient value calculator demonstrates the value of U.S. soy products in practical diets.

“With these very high commodity prices, people are looking for alternative ingredients,” said Matthew Clark of Genesis Feed Technologies. “We all say the alternative ingredient is a better soybean meal, that’s the best one to go for to find the money.”

Clark said the nutrient value calculator gives commercial people a vision into the formulation process to make commercial decisions. This platform expresses the technical side of soybeans in a very commercial language, so people can see what nutrients and characteristics will make a difference to the profitability of the companies.

“Like my grandchildren, the soybean is small and complicated when we look at what’s inside a soybean,” Clark said. “Over the years we’ve thought of soybeans as a protein source and an oil source. But it’s more than that.”

He stressed the importance of amino acid digestibility and pointed out the higher level of sucrose in U.S. soy than most other destinations.

“Our challenge is to look at the full profile of the soybean meal, take account of every single component and turn those technical details into a profit figure,” Clark said.

Through a commercial formulation system, the nutrient value calculator can show the profit-and-loss situation so buyers can see where money is being made by making a particular choice.

“The nutrient value calculator is exciting because it uses the full nutrient profile evaluation,” Clark said. “Every little detail that goes into a soybean in America is captured in this tool for promotional purposes. The way it works, we look for the lowest cost of goods in the feed mill, we are helping our customer seek profits. We are really thrilled to be working with the USSEC team on a global basis to show off how we can generate and understand the value of a better soybean meal.”

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

China is Just Part of the Demand Story Sparking a Surge in Pork Prices

How Do the Profitability Puzzle Pieces Align for 2021?

When Cheap Diets Fail

Pilgrim's Proposes $75 Million Chicken Price-Fixing Settlement

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:31:14 GMT

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., the nation’s second-largest U.S. chicken processor, said it has reached a settlement to pay $75 million to a group of poultry buyers in a price-fixing lawsuit. The announcement was made in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission Monday (Jan. 11, 2021).

The proposed settlement, which must be approved by the court, would be the largest in a four-year legal battle over alleged collusion among the major chicken companies that dominate the $65 billion U.S. chicken industry. In October, Pilgrim’s agreed to pay a $110.5 million penalty in the Justice Department’s criminal price-fixing case. Lawsuits filed individually by major supermarket and restaurant chains remain outstanding, the company said.

Last year the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal price-fixing and bid-rigging charges against 10 poultry-industry executives, including two former chief executives of Pilgrim’s. The defendants have pleaded not guilty. Other price-fixing allegations have been made in lawsuits involving the beef and pork processing industries.

“While Pilgrim’s does not admit any liability for the claims alleged in the ‘Broiler Antitrust Civil Litigation,’ it believes a settlement was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders,” the company said in a news release.

Chicken buyers, through their attorneys, have alleged that Pilgrim’s, Tyson Foods, Inc., Sanderson Farms, Inc., and perdue Farms, Inc., all kept tabs on each other’s operations through an industry benchmarking service and coordinated submissions to a chicken pricing index in an effort to keep chicken prices artificially high. The companies deny the allegations, arguing higher grain costs and growing demand for chicken led to the higher prices.

In the criminal complaint, the Justice Department has alleged that senior chicken-industry executives exchanged details of prices they planned to submit to major fast-food chains, sharing details on competitor’s activity through text messages and phone calls.

Pilgrim’s Pride, which produces 20% of U.S. chicken, is headquartered in Greeley, Colo., has 37,000 employees and reported $10.7 billion in 2017 revenue. JBS USA Holdings owns 78% of Pilgrim’s Pride.

Pilgrim’s Pride Agrees To $110 Million Price-Fixing Fine

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:57:18 GMT

In a statement issued Oct. 14, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. says it has agreed to pay a $110 million fine in a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division.

The plea agreement was made regarding the DOJ’s investigation into the sales of broiler chicken products in the U.S. and is subject to approval of the U.S. District Court of Colorado. The statement said, “Pilgrim’s and the Antitrust Division agreed to a fine of $110,524,140 for restraint of competition that affected three contracts for the sale of chicken products to one customer in the United States.”

The agreement ends the investigation into Pilgrim’s Pride for its role in alleged wide-ranging schemes to fix prices in the broiler market that has ensnarled several companies in multiple lawsuits. The agreement also does not recommend a monitor, any restitution or probationary period, and provides the DOJ will not bring additional charges against Pilgrim’s Pride in this matte, all contingent upon the company complying with the terms and provisions of the agreement.

“Pilgrim’s is committed to fair and honest competition in compliance with U.S. antitrust laws,” said Fabio Sandri, Pilgrim’s CEO. “We are encouraged that today’s agreement concludes the Antitrust Division’s investigation into Pilgrim’s, providing certainty regarding this matter to our team members, suppliers, customers and shareholders.”

Previously, the DOJ has announced indictments against 10 chicken company executives alleging price-fixing and bid-rigging for broiler chicken products. Included in those indictments were Pilgrim’s Pride CEO Jayson Penn, former CEO William Lovette, and former Pilgrim’s Pride vice president Roger Austin.

On September 23, 2020, Pilgrim’s Pride announced the appointment of Fabio Sandri as CEO, replacing Jayson Penn.

Pilgrim’s Pride, which produces 20% of U.S. chicken, is headquartered in Greeley, Colo., has 37,000 employees and reported $10.7 billion in 2017 revenue. JBS USA Holdings owns 78% of Pilgrim’s Pride.

Related stories:

New Indictments In DOJ Chicken Price-Fixing Probe

DOJ Alleges Price Fixing Conspiracy

Food: A Serious Quest at Olympics

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:49:14 GMT

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — First, U.S. snowboarding star Chloe Kim tweeted about being “down for some ice cream” while competing in Pyeongchang, then about being “hangry” because she hadn’t finished her breakfast sandwich.

Clearly, food is a big deal for Olympians, and it’s usually much more complicated than ice cream and sandwiches: the very specific, highly calibrated fuel they put in their bodies — for energy, for health, for warmth, for a psychological and physiological edge — is an important part of what makes them excel.

Korean food is some of the world’s finest — savory, salty soups with fish so tender it falls off the bone; thick slabs of grilled pork and beef backed with spicy kimchi that many Korean grandmothers swear cures the common cold. But it’s very different from what many foreign Olympians are used to.

“What I recommend for athletes right now in competition mode is to be as safe as possible. This might happen once in a lifetime; you don’t want to blow it with just having an upset stomach because you’ve eaten something that’s different to what your body’s used to,” Susie Parker-Simmons, a sports dietitian for the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said in an interview in Pyeongchang. “I say, as soon as the games is over, go at it; enjoy, be adventurous.”

FEEDING THE ATHLETES

The U.S. team has its own chefs and dietitians, as well as two “nutrition centers” here. And then there’s the food at two athletes villages, where nearly 3,000 athletes from 90 different countries — most of whom strictly follow unique food routines — get fed.

The goal is to provide lots of everything.

The two villages each have massive, 43,055-square-foot dining rooms where nearly 500 chefs and cooking assistants provide a combined 18,000 meals per day. Each dining room is open 24 hours a day and offers about 450 different types of food in buffets that include Western, Asian, Korean, Halal, Kosher, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, David Kihyun Kwak, the director of food and beverage at the Pyeongchang Olympics, said in an interview.

To determine what to serve at Pyeongchang, Kwak’s team analyzed food data for the past five Olympics and also worked closely with other nations’ nutrition specialists.

The amount of raw ingredients used each day to feed the athletes is staggering: 1,540 pounds of beef, 992 pounds of eggs, 771 pounds of lamb, 440 pounds of bacon, 374 pounds of chicken, 220 pounds of rice, 7,495 pounds of fruits and vegetables, about 15,000 pieces of bread and 800 pizzas.

FOOD SAFETY

Most Olympic athletes don’t eat outside of the villages because of worries about the purity of ingredients, Kwak said. The United States did tests before the 2008 Beijing Olympics that found some local chicken contained enough steroids to trigger positive test results.

Experts examine ingredients closely for possible contamination that could threaten athletes’ health or disrupt doping tests. South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has sent more than a dozen food safety specialists to take ingredients samples to buses equipped with fast-testing laboratories to look for potential problems before the food even gets eaten.

HOME COOKING

Finland’s Riikka Valila, the oldest women’s ice hockey player in Olympic history at 44, likes the food options here but misses the “really good bread” back in Finland. She said some of her teammates on gluten-free diets have brought food from home.

The Americans shipped over 85 pallets, each about 6 feet tall and 3 feet deep and wide, filled with pastas, sauces, peanut butter, grains and plants like quinoa, and spices, Parker-Simmons said.

There’s food meant to help with performance and recovery, but there’s also “psychological food,” which Parker-Simmons explains like this: Say an athlete training her whole life for the Olympics fails. She takes it hard; she stops eating. This is when the dietitians will turn to something special — a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, maybe, or Cheez-Its.

Vincent Zhou, a U.S. figure skater, said he needs a lot of carbs, “before, between and after sessions,” to fend off fatigue. “It hasn’t been very difficult finding comfort food,” he said.

EATING FOR PERFORMANCE

The work to optimize nutrition can seem as thorough as the work to perfect the sports skills.

Dietitians have to regularly test cross-country skiers, for instance, who have the highest energy expenditure of any sport in the world, Parker-Simmons said. An average-sized woman will need 4,000 calories or more per day to train and compete; a typical man needs about 7,000 calories, she said. Ski jumpers, on the other hand, sometimes have to drop 10 kilograms below their natural body weight, while keeping up their muscle mass and energy.

FANS SPLIT ON KOREAN FOOD

Foreign fans, of course, have their own food worries and routines.

South Korean officials have tried to provide menus in English and other languages to thousands of local restaurants. And the Korea Tourist Organization has published a brochure, complete with a hotline in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, that outlines “must eat” dishes and where to find them.

Some tourists embrace the exotic.

“I was impressed with the little fish, the eyes and everything,” Julie Thibaudeau, 53, from Quebec, said as she celebrated her son’s gold medal in mogul skiing in a local Pyeongchang restaurant. “I tried, and it was salty, but it was good. And after that I had a good glass of ... beer.”

Others play it safe. Very safe.

“We found Papa John’s (pizza) today, which was literally life-changing because ... we haven’t eaten a lot for the last few days,” Rachel Basford, 31, a teacher in Shanghai who’s from Kent, England, said while drinking in a fried chicken restaurant. “I’m not that adventurous when it comes to trying local foods. I just like to eat British food in various places around the world.”

Asked if she planned to try Korean food she said, with a laugh: “No. Absolutely not. We’re going to Seoul tomorrow so there’s the McDonald’s at Seoul Station, so that should be good.”

WILLPOWER IN THE DINING HALL

For the athletes, sheer abundance can be a danger.

When U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon got to Pyeongchang a coach told him about the last Winter Games in Sochi, when one of her athletes became very excited about all the food available even as his performance in training tanked.

The coach finally understood what was happening when the athlete donned his costume for the short program: “He’d been in the cafeteria the whole time; he’d gained seven pounds before the competition,” Rippon said with a laugh. “And my coach is sitting next to me, and he was like, ‘ha, ha, ha, ha,’ and he turned to me and said, ‘You’d better not get fat while you’re here.’”

Chloe Kim, by the way, finally got her ice cream — and a gold medal. She could be seen eating her treat while being swarmed by reporters.

Copyright, The Associated Press

More Meat, Please

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:49:09 GMT

After remaining fairly steady from 2008 to 2014, total U.S. meat production began to sharply increase in 2015—and consumers have responded by increasing annual meat consumption by 20 lb. in recent years. Cheaper feed and growing domestic and international demand have factored into growth. With relatively stable feed costs projected for the next couple of years, meat supplies will continue to increase faster than the rate of population growth in the U.S. through 2018, according to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. —Katie Humphreys

Profit Tastes Like Chicken in Search for Cheap Meat

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:38:59 GMT

Record-high prices for U.S. beef burgers and pork chops are helping to make 2014 the most profitable year ever for chicken producers.

Americans are buying more chicken as a cheaper alternative just as fast-food restaurants including Yum! Brands Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. add new menu items from wings to club sandwiches. The sales surge has sent wholesale prices to an all- time high, boosted profit for processors including Tyson Foods Inc., and left Ozark Mountain Poultry unable to keep up.

“We’re sold out,” said Ed Fryar, the chief executive officer of Rogers, Arkansas-based Ozark, which processes 3 million pounds a week. “Last fall, when I looked at 2014, I didn’t anticipate demand being as strong as it is. This is going to be a really good year for the industry.”

With whole birds at U.S. supermarkets selling at half the per-pound cost of beef or pork, Americans will eat the most chicken in three years, while tight supply and high prices send red-meat demand to an all-time low, government data show. In a year when farm income is set to drop because of crop surpluses, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says poultry farms will earn $203,500 on average, the most on records going back to 1996.

Whole chickens sold by farmers in Georgia, the biggest producing state, rose 9.2 percent since the end of 2012 to a record $1.07 a pound on April 9, USDA data show. Wholesale beef gained as much as 26 percent over that period, fetching $2.2252 a pound yesterday, while pork advanced as much as 62 percent and sold for $1.2441 a pound yesterday.

Food Prices
Surging meat and dairy prices are helping to spur the fastest gain in consumer food costs since 2011, government data show. Beef is up after the U.S. cattle herd started 2014 at the smallest in 63 years, following years of drought and high feed costs. Pork gained as a raging virus that kills piglets spread to 28 states. Cattle and hog futures reached records last month.

While the rallies are boosting profit on all meats, chicken will be the “clear winner” this year, according to Tyson, the largest U.S. meat processor. “It’s the cheapest protein, or less-expensive protein,” Donnie King, president of the company’s prepared-foods unit, told analysts on Feb. 27.

Even as demand increases, chicken supplies remain limited because producers were slower to expand output than they have during previous periods of improved profit. In March and early April, the number of broiler chicks placed for meat production were little changed from a year earlier, and egg hatchings trail the five-year and 10-year averages, USDA data show.

Expansion Begins
Rising output may start to send prices lower as early as next month, said David Maloni, a principal at the American Restaurant Association in Sarasota, Florida. The number of broiler eggs set in incubators reached 202.1 million in the week ended April 4, the most since July, and is holding above last year’s numbers, USDA data show.

“In the near term, we’ll go higher, but the bulk of the gains may be behind us,” Maloni said. “We suspect you’ll see production expand versus 2013 in the coming months.”

Red-meat prices have dropped this month. Wholesale beef slid 8.8 percent from a record high on March 18, and pork fell 7 percent from an all-time high on April 2, USDA data show.

The outlook is bearish outside the U.S. as feed costs rise and an outbreak of avian influenza erodes demand in China, the second-largest consumer, Rabobank International said in a March 28 report. Russia has a surplus, while shifts in trade patterns pressure prices in Europe and Brazil, the bank said.

Modest Expansion
Any output gains in the U.S. probably will be modest, keeping supplies tight and prices at the highest ever, the USDA said. The agency last week cut its 2014 production forecast to 38.5 billion pounds. While that would be a record, the 1.8 percent gain would be less than the 2.3 percent increase forecast in March and the 2.1 percent advance in 2013.

“The chicken industry has wanted to see this proof in higher prices before they were willing to increase supply,” said Will Sawyer, a vice president at Rabobank in New York. Farmers will need to increase the size of the breeder flock to “materially increase production,” he said.

A “meaningful change” in bird production won’t occur until the second half of 2015, Tyson’s CEO Donald Smith said at a March 12 conference.

With the Northeast boneless, skinless chicken breasts already up 23 percent this year at $1.5586 a pound on March 28, the highest for this time of year since 2004, prices may reach $2 by June or July because of a supply bottleneck, said Bill Roenigk, an economist at the National Chicken Council, a producer and processor group in Washington.

Avoiding Losses
Adding hens to the breeding flock won’t occur too quickly because farmers “don’t want to be in a situation where they can lose money again” from overproduction, Roenigk said.

Processors including Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. posted losses in 2008 and 2009, and for parts of 2011, because of surplus output by the industry. In 2012, profit margins were eroded as a U.S. drought sent corn and soybean prices to record highs. As feed costs surged, livestock producers including hog farmers and cattle ranchers reduced herds. Chicken output fell in the third quarter to the lowest for the period since 2009.

It can take eight to 10 weeks from the time an egg is laid until the bird enters a processing plant, compared with a year to raise a hog to slaughter weight and almost three years for cattle. Poultry producers are able to respond more quickly to price changes, while cattle supplies have been slower to recover from the supply cuts in 2012.

Feed Costs
Expansion also is being limited by the rising price of feed, which accounts for 27 percent of costs on average. Corn futures in Chicago that plummeted last year because of a record harvest have surged 20 percent this year, while soybean-meal futures are up 21 percent in the past 12 months.

With chicken supplies increasing at an “extremely measured” pace, wholesale broilers, or young chickens suitable for cooking, will average $1 to $1.04 a pound this year, as much as 4.3 percent higher than in 2013, said Shayle Shagam, a USDA livestock, dairy and poultry analyst in Washington. That’s the highest since the USDA data series for a national, weighted composite began in 2009 and higher than the 12-city broiler price the agency used since 1978.

Even with the higher price, chicken is the cheaper meat. Retailers sold fresh, whole chicken at $1.544 a pound in March, compared with $3.698 for ground beef and $3.824 for pork chops, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Americans will eat 82.7 pounds per capita this year, the most since 2011, while red-meat consumption drops to 100.9 pounds, the lowest since at least 1970, the USDA has projected.

‘Go-To Protein’
“Clearly, chicken is going to be the go-to protein,” said Russell Whitman, vice president of the poultry division at commodity researcher Urner Barry in Toms River, New Jersey.

Restaurants are betting on the birds. Oak Brook, Illinois- based McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast-food chain, brought chicken wings back to its menu late last year and is offering a bacon club sandwich with an option of chicken or beef. Wendy’s Co., based in Dublin, Ohio, introduced an Asian cashew-chicken salad in March, while Burger King Worldwide Inc., based in Miami, said last month it began selling a Spicy Original Chicken Sandwich in January, noting that poultry is “a growing piece of the market.”

Chick-fil-A Inc., a closely held fast-food chain based in Atlanta, surpassed Yum! Brands’ KFC unit as the largest U.S. chicken-focused restaurant in 2012 and last year widened the gap with sales of $5 billion, according to food industry researcher Technomic Inc. in Chicago. Meanwhile, Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands has added fryers to all its Pizza Hut restaurants to start home-delivery service of chicken wings, and the company opened a new sandwich restaurant in Arlington, Texas, called Super Chix.

‘Prosperous Year’
Prospects for rising demand have been a boon for Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson, which gets most of its sales and profit from chicken. The company will earn a record $1.02 billion in the current fiscal year and $1.07 billion in the next, according to the mean of estimates by six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The shares are up 83 percent in the past 12 months, after touching a record $44.24 on April 1 in New York. Greeley, Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride, the second- largest U.S. producer, has more than doubled.

From Subway Restaurants’ sandwich shops to Jack’s Family Restaurants Inc., “they’re all pushing chicken,” said Dennis Maze, who has been a chicken farmer in Blount County, Alabama, for 41 years and produces about 500,000 pounds every month. “We’re still putting it out at a reasonable price to the consumer. I’m looking for a very prosperous year in the chicken industry because of demand.”

Red Meat No Worse than Chicken for Cholesterol Levels

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:25:55 GMT

Poultry’s status as a presumed “healthier” meat could be coming to an end. People have long assumed that poultry, with lower levels of saturated fatty acids compared with most red meats, would contribute less to cholesterol levels and other factors associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Research results have challenged those assumptions though, and results of a recent clinical trial from researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute indicates no significant differences between the effects of dietary red meat and chicken on most measures of risk for CVD.

The report, titled “ Effects of red meat, white meat, and nonmeat protein sources on atherogenic lipoprotein measures in the context of low compared with high saturated fat intake: a randomized controlled trial ,” is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

In this trial, the researchers compared the effects of red meat, chicken and vegetable proteins in diets containing high or low total saturated fatty acids (SFA). They randomly selected study 177 participants and divided them into the high- and low-SFA groups. Most of the dietary SFA came from high-fat dairy products, with a smaller portion coming from the meats or vegetable sources.

Within each group (high versus low SFA), participants spent four weeks eating each of the three diets, with blood tests and a two- to seven-week “washout” period between each study period.

The primary outcomes the researchers measured were LDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein B (apoB), small and medium LDL particles, and total/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

In this study, LDL cholesterol and apoB were higher with red and white meat than with nonmeat, independent of SFA content. The authors note this was due primarily to increases in large LDL particles, whereas small and medium LDL and total/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were unaffected by protein source. These outcomes did not differ significantly between red and white meat. Independent of protein source, high SFA compared with low SFA increased LDL cholesterol.

Other key findings include:

Over the course of the study, there were no significant changes in body weight across protein diets in either the low-SFA groups or high-SFA groups.
There were significant effects of both dietary protein source and SFA content on total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, and apoB concentrations, whereas the ratio of total/HDL cholesterol was unaffected by these dietary modifications.
There was a relatively small effect of protein source on HDL cholesterol (“good cholesterol”) with concentrations slightly higher on the red and white meat diets, particularly in the high-SFA arm.
The cholesterol-raising effect of the meat diets was associated with increases in large LDL whereas small and medium LDL and LDL peak particle diameter were unaffected by dietary protein source. Lipid, lipoprotein, and apolipoprotein concentrations, together with concentrations of large, medium, and small LDL particles, did not differ significantly between the red meat and white meat diets. The authors note that large LDL particles have not been associated with CVD in multiple population cohorts in contrast to the associations observed for concentrations of medium, small, and/or very small LDL
There were no significant effects of protein source or SFA level on blood pressure, plasma glucose, or endothelial reactivity as assessed by endothelial peripheral arterial tone.
Importantly, the authors note that “the weaker association with CVD risk of large LDL than of small LDL suggests that the impact of high intakes of red and white meat, as well as SFA from dairy sources, which selectively raised large LDL subfractions, may be overestimated by reliance on LDL cholesterol, as is the case in current dietary guidelines.”

The Researchers note their findings are consistent with previous studies indicating that intake of neither lean red meat nor poultry results in increases in plasma lipid concentrations in a diet low in overall SFA.

The news isn’t all good though. The authors say their results support earlier findings that plant-based, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, or vegan dietary patterns are associated with lower total, LDL (But also lower HDL) cholesterol concentrations than diets including animal protein. This study, though, is the first to show that both categories of meat protein result in LDL concentrations that are higher than those resulting from vegetable protein sources in otherwise comparable diets, and that these effects are independent of dietary SFA level.

Finally, the researchers point out that CVD risk factors outside of the scope of this study could be associated with red meat versus white meat or vegetable proteins, and that processed red meats probably contribute to CVD risk for reasons other than SFA or cholesterol content.

See the full report from American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

For more information on meat’s role in human nutrition, see these articles from BovineVetOnline:

Walmart Vs. Big Chicken

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:25:43 GMT

Walmart, America’s largest retail grocer, has filed suit against various U.S. poultry companies alleging a conspiracy to inflate chicken prices.

The antitrust suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, alleges that more than a dozen major chicken companies “reached illegal agreements and restrained trade.”

The suit alleges that as early as 2008 through at least 2016, “Defendants’ restraint of trade was implemented primarily through two mechanisms. The first focused on coordinating their output and reducing the supply of broiler chickens into the market. The second focused on (among other things) manipulating price indices with respect to wholesale chicken prices.”

Companies named as defendants include: Pilgrim’s Pride, Koch Foods, JCG Foods, Koch Meat Co., various Sanderson Farms units, House of Raeford Farms, MAR- JAC Poultry, Perdue Farms and Perdue Foods, Wayne Farms, various O.K. Foods units, Peco Foods, Harrison Poultry, Foster Farms, Claxton Poultry Farms, various Mountaire Farms units Amick Farms, various Case Foods units and Agri Stats Inc.

Noticeable by its absence in the suit is Tyson Foods, Inc, George’s Inc., and Simmons Foods, Inc. All three companies were named as defendants in similar price fixing cases in Illinois. An annual SEC filing from November 2018 indicates 17.3% of Tyson’s consolidated sales in 2018 were to Walmart.

Walmart’s lawsuit alleges, “the broiler producers’ coordinated output restriction scheme was successfully facilitated by, monitored and policed using reports purchased, at significant cost, from Defendant Agri Stats, Inc. Agri Stats collects detailed, proprietary data from all Defendants and others, including housing used, breed of chicks, average size, production, and breeder flock levels.”

Several lawsuits have been filed since 2016 alleging price-fixing by poultry companies. One defendant to an earlier lawsuit, Fieldale Farms, “agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle claims by a putative class of direct purchasers alleging that it participated in this conspiracy.” As a result, claims against Fieldale Farms were released.

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Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:25:39 GMT

Consumers Dish on Meat Purchasing Decisions

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:24:59 GMT

A room filled with 335 food and agriculture stakeholders from around the country gathered in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday for the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s 2019 Stakeholders Summit. The event kicked off with a consumer focus group led by Anne-Marie Roerink of 210 Analytics.

Six consumers shared their meat purchasing habits, including how much price, taste, appearance, animal welfare, antibiotics and labeling claims matter. The consumers agreed taste, price and appearance are important when they stand at the meat case, but they had differing opinions when it came to animal welfare and antibiotic use. Some said animal welfare is a main driver of their purchasing decisions, while others agreed it was important, but wasn’t top-of-mind.

“I do want to be a conscious meat consumer,” said Lynn, a 50-year-old marketing professional who lives with her two cats (who are not meat eaters). “I do care about how the animal was raised and care about what was put in that animal that I am going to end up eating.”

On the other hand, semi-retired, Midwest-raised Thomas, 63, says he doesn’t think about animal welfare when he purchases meat. He believes farmers do their best to care for animals.

Several panelists mentioned they rely on the retailers to source humanely raised meat and poultry products. Zach, a father of two, says he receives very mixed messages when it comes to food production and admits it’s hard to know what to believe.

“I appreciate the transparency of retailers like Sprouts when it comes to food,” he says. He believes it’s important to share the story of where food comes from and believes he still has much to learn.

When asked if antibiotic use labels have an impact on purchasing decisions, some panelists said they realize what goes into the animal eventually impacts their health, so they prefer not to have antibiotics. But they are eager to learn more about why antibiotics may be used and the different types that are used in livestock production.

“I feel like I’m not very informed on the use of antibiotics in meat,” said Victoria, a middle-aged mother of two. “Because I don’t have that information, I would want to know more specifics – how much antibiotics, why do they give antibiotics, how does it affect the animal? Then I can make a better, more informed decision.”

A key theme from the panel discussion was trust in labels, with most of them feeling wary of label enforcement and the meanings behind different labels. Victoria admits she struggles to trust labels and just because it says organic, she doesn’t necessarily believe that claim is true. Ultimately she’s not sure if label claims, if they are true, are really a benefit to her and her family.

“I look at brands and labels,” Lynn said. “When labeling/branding feels smaller, I assume that’s better.”

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Hormel Lawsuit Reveals What 'Natural' Meat Really Means

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:23:53 GMT

Consumers want “natural” meat—and the biggest meat companies want to sell it to them.

American shoppers are reaching for healthier, more environmentally and animal-friendly meat products, with 39 percent saying “all-natural” is the most important claim when purchasing red meat, according to a recent survey by Mintel. But there’s one problem: The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that when it comes to meat and poultry, the term “natural” means only that the product has no artificial ingredients and has been minimally processed.

It doesn’t mean anything when it comes to antibiotics, hormones or preservatives.

Companies such as Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Hormel Foods Corp. have been snapping up smaller, outwardly progressive competitors in the burgeoning organic food space, seeking to capitalize on changing consumer tastes. At the same time, however, some of the major meat companies have been offering their own products as “natural,” replete with labels featuring blue skies and green fields.

On April 8, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia—a jurisdiction with stringent consumer protection laws—dismissed a lawsuit by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) alleging Hormel was misleading consumers. The court held that as long as manufacturer labels are approved by the USDA, the advertising can use the “natural” claims. “[I]f a producer can accurately use a term in a label,” the court wrote, “the producer should be able to use the same term in its advertising.”

Hormel said in its most recent quarterly filing that its “Natural Choice” line of meats “showed excellent growth.” But in a 600-plus-page court filing in January, in which Hormel responded to the ALDF lawsuit, the company disclosed how it makes some of its Natural Choice products, as well as its perception of what consumers think they’re buying.

In statements disclosed in the filing, a company executive said the same pigs it uses to make its famous Spam brand meat product are also used in Natural Choice pork products. Those pigs are often given antibiotics and are rarely allowed outdoors.

“It’s a massive attempt to manipulate and dupe the consumer to purchase something they have no intention to purchase,” said David Muraskin, a food project attorney at Public Justice and lead lawyer for ALDF. The group said it plans to appeal the April 8 ruling.

“Our position has always been that Hormel Natural Choice products are produced, labeled, and marketed in conformance with all applicable laws and regulations,” Hormel said in a statement. “The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has specifically reviewed and approved the labels for Hormel Natural Choice branded products, including scrutinizing and approving the ‘Natural’ and ‘Preservative’-related language.”

Internally, Hormel employees questioned whether they were meeting consumer expectations, specifically around antibiotics, according to the court filing. The company’s director of marketing said in an email quoted in the document that “many consumer[s] assume Natural=RWOA [Raised Without Antibiotics].” Hormel stated in the filing that she was “simply making an observation.”

Consumer comments cited in the court filing often focused on the “no preservatives” claims, with one stating, for example, “We love your [Natural Choice] meats, my husband is allergic to nitrates, so thankful for your products …” Hormel stated that, at most, “the commenter purchased Natural Choice products because of the taste and because the commenter’s husband had no allergic reaction.”

Some of the natural ingredients used as preservatives in Natural Choice products are high in nitrates.

“There’s a difference between what’s legal and what’s ethical,” Nikolas Contis, a senior partner at brand consultant PS212, said of the Natural Choice marketing. “I think it’s unethical. They know the words are misleading.” Hormel on Wednesday rejected Contis’s assertion, saying it disagrees with “any implication that the advertising or labeling for the Hormel Natural Choice brand is misleading.”

Many animals raised for meat in the U.S. spend their lives in conventional indoor agricultural systems, receiving antibiotics and sometimes growth promoters. While this isn’t what most consumers likely envision as “natural,” it’s a system that allows them to eat as much beef, pork, turkey and chicken as they want—no matter where they live or the time of year.

According to the court filing, Hormel executives said that these practices are deployed at the independent farms raising their animals, and that there is no difference between those raised for Spam and those destined for Natural Choice. (Hormel’s Applegate brand, a small organic label it purchased in 2015, was not at issue in the lawsuit.)

There is “no separate manner in which the pigs raised for Hormel Natural Choice products are versus any other of Hormel’s products, so Spam or any lunchmeat or bacon product,” Corwyn Bollum, Hormel’s director of pork procurement, said in a deposition cited in the court filing. That means only a “fairly small percent” of the pigs slaughtered for Natural Choice had any outdoor access, he said. Some pigs used in Natural Choice products received antibiotics and/or the growth promoter, ractopamine, according to other statements cited in the filing.

And it’s not just the pigs: “Hormel Foods acknowledges that some cattle that [sic] used in Natural Choice beef products receive hormones,” the company wrote in the filing.

It also stated that turkeys used in Natural Choice products may receive antibiotics.

Antibiotics are administered to livestock to prevent disease, though the practice has been linked to a growing public-health crisis of antibiotic resistance in humans. Producers are supposed to allow enough time between the administration of antibiotics and the slaughter of the animal, such that the drugs have been flushed from its system, said Colin Johnson, a swine specialist with the Iowa Pork Industry Center in Ames, Iowa. He added, though, that trace amounts of some antibiotics remain legal.

Then there’s ractopamine, a drug that changes animal metabolism to make the meat leaner and heavier. The drug is banned in China, Russia and the European Union, and tests of its safety for humans are limited. In the U.S. and dozens of other countries, however, the drug is legal to use. American pork producers reduced their usage after China’s ban in 2011, since they look to that market for significant exports.

“I’d assume ‘natural’ wouldn’t have ractopamine,” Johnson said, though he added that the substance isn’t harmful to humans.

“Antibiotic residues are very uncommon,” Hormel said in a statement. “If our testing indicates a positive, that raw material is not used in our food production and does not enter the food chain.”

The advertising claims about preservatives, like “no preservatives or artificial ingredients” and “no nitrates or nitrites added,” are also misleading, ALDF alleged in its original complaint in 2016. On its website, after its “no preservatives” claim, Hormel adds the statement “except for those naturally occurring in cultured celery and cherry powder.”

Celery juice powder is naturally high in nitrates. Additionally, many Natural Choice items also contain lactic acid starter, a bacterial culture. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said bacterial cultures convert the nitrates into sodium nitrite, a meat preservative it warns should be avoided because studies link its consumption by children and pregnant women to cancer. (CSPI for this reason specifically advises consumers to be wary of “natural” hot dogs and cured meats boasting of “no added nitrite.”)

“We continue to stand behind Hormel Natural Choice products,” Hormel said in its statement. “Hormel Natural Choice products are minimally processed and contain no artificial ingredients or chemical preservatives, and that’s clearly stated on the package.”

Poultry Sectors Face Margin Challenges

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:12:58 GMT

Overall chicken industry profitability so far this year, when adjusted for the mix of products produced has been slightly better than 2016, which was not a good year and far below 2017’s. Hatchery output is expected to reflect this situation, with hatchings up 2% this quarter but then tailing to unchanged from last year’s during the summer quarter, and maybe even a slight decline for the last quarter of the year. Much depends on the path of corn and soybean meal prices in coming months, and higher costs for these production inputs will skew chicken production decisions to the downside.

Increases in U.S. chicken production will struggle to be absorbed overseas or on the domestic market without lower prices. U.S. consumption (retail weight) is expected to increase from 2017’s 63.7 pounds per person to only 64.0 pounds this year. Excess production will accumulate in cold storage. Inventories of chicken in cold storage at the start of the second quarter were up 15% compared to a year earlier and will be a factor limiting production expansion later in 2018.

Chicken processor gross margins were unseasonably weak during April and May as wholesale breast meat and wing prices struggled. Most important has been depressed prices for deboned products. Margins for lighter weight whole birds, such as rotisserie-style product have improved during the same interval and are at the highest levels in at least two years. The dichotomy in economic returns between the two markets should encourage some more production of smaller birds over the course of the next year or two, which would moderate the pace of total tonnage increases.

U.S. turkey production in 2018 is set to decline year-over-year by 1-2% as producers respond to negative economic conditions. Whole bird prices were well below a year ago throughout the first half of this year. Expectations are for those prices to improve as downward production adjustments tighten inventory.

Supported by low prices, turkey exports were active in the first quarter. The gain compared to 2017 was 15%, and was the largest for the quarter since 2014. Strength in the export market is expected to continue, and the annual forecast is for turkey exports to be up 7%. Mexico is the largest market, which of course could be problematic, especially if NAFTA stumbles.

Lackluster domestic consumption is the biggest challenge for the turkey industry. Domestic use was down 5% from a year earlier during 2018’s first quarter. There is little incentive to increase, or even maintain production at recent levels until there is some clear sign of an uptick in U.S. consumer demand.

Wayne Farms Employees Embezzle $100,000 in Payroll Fraud Scheme

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:18:29 GMT

Police arrested five employees of Wayne Farms, the sixth largest vertically integrated poultry producer and processor in the U.S., after the company uncovered a payroll fraud scheme costing the company nearly $100,000.

Dothan, Ala., police charged Clifton Rafael Frazier, 35, Dothan; supervisor Latoya Copeland, 34, Blakely, Ga.; Olivia Patrice Beard, 29, Bainbridge, Ga.; Robert Kenta Wade, 41, Dothan; and Tamilin Smith, 38, Dothan; all with first-degree theft.

According to Dothan Police investigator Terry Nelson, Frazier allegedly adjusted payroll records to reflect that certain employees worked hours they did not, according to the Dothan Eagle .

“The employees allegedly involved in this scheme paid Frazier roughly $200 a week for illegally adding overtime to their pay,” Nelson said. “The overall scheme, with all involved, netted roughly $100,000.”

At least one additional arrest is forthcoming, Nelson added. The case remains under investigation.

“After the company was made aware of the report regarding overtime, Wayne Farms began looking into the issue and discovered the overtime pay,” Nelson said. “Wayne Farms contacted law enforcement stating they wanted all involved caught and prosecuted.”

Wayne Farms spokesperson Frank Singleton said the company conducts regular payroll reviews to retain payroll integrity.

“It is one of those things that when we discover it, we take care of it,” Singleton said.

Investigators are reviewing records from January 2017 to January 2019. According to the company’s website, Wayne Farms employs about 350 in Dothan with a $30 million annual payroll and a $164 million Alabama economic impact.

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