(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. exports at risk as bird flu enters heart of poultry country

Chicago | Reuters — A case of bird flu confirmed Wednesday in the heart of America’s poultry region, is certain to mean more export restrictions, increasing U.S. supply and likely forcing the world’s biggest poultry companies to trim prices. The U.S. government announced the infection of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu in turkeys in Arkansas […] Read more

(McDonalds.com)

McDonald’s to phase out human antibiotics from U.S. chicken supply

Reuters — McDonald’s U.S. restaurants will gradually stop buying chicken raised with antibiotics vital to fighting human infections, the most aggressive step by a major food company to change chicken producers’ practices in the fight against dangerous “superbugs.” The world’s biggest restaurant chain announced on Wednesday that within two years, McDonald’s USA will only buy […] Read more


Ranchers beef plant

Fewer cattle, fewer meat-packing plants

Shrinking herds means less beef to process and shuttered facilities

Meat-packing plants are the lifeblood of many rural communities in North America. So the impact of a plant closure is often felt more by local businesses than by livestock producers who supplied the plant. It wasn’t always that way for producers. Even in the early 2000s, groups on both sides of the border worked to […] Read more

What’s at ‘steak’ in a growing demand for chicken?

What’s at ‘steak’ in a growing demand for chicken?

Beef packing needs a better value add if it's going to compete with poultry

When we consider the trials and tribulations of beef packers, there is often very little room for sympathy. But beef packing is a tight-margin business and processors will engage in more than one protein to offer consumers. Looking at the top five global processors in the world shifts our perspective on the importance of processing […] Read more