What the Cluck? Why America's Favorite Meat Faces Trouble

America's favorite meat is in a foul state these days. Just a few years ago, chicken became the most produced meat in the United States, yet the sector today is struggling.

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America's favorite meat is in a foul state these days. Just a few years ago, chicken became the most produced meat in the United States, yet the sector today is struggling. Pilgrim's Pride, the nation's largest poultry producer, filed for bankruptcy protection last December, after fluctuating feed prices crippled its business.

Industry analysts claim that chicken won top place in U.S. meat consumption thanks to an increased interest in our diet. Yet the chicks are about as healthy as their industry. Last Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection named poultry the No. 1 source of food-borne outbreaks.

And the sector doesn't exactly have a stellar record when it comes to employee care, either. Seventy-one percent of U.S. contract poultry farmers earn subpoverty-level wages, according to a 2005 report from the United Food and Commercial Workers.

So what happened? And why is the chicken industry floundering on all fronts?

Post-War Processed Products

Chicken knew its place at the American table until after World War II, when consumers started gobbling up the meat at an alarming rate. From 1945 on, consumption skyrocketed, due to an increased affluence and culture of domestic convenience. From the 1990s, poultry consumption outpaced pork. And chicken's hot spot on doctors' golden lists gave the industry an even greater incentive to feed demand with new, jazzy products. Health could deliver wealth, and poultry magnates were willing to do whatever it took to get their share of the profit.

Eventually, chicken paid off -- in 2008 U.S. producers made more than $24 billion.

In his 2005 book, Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food , Steve Striffler argued that chicken evolved from a heart-healthy product to a poked, prodded, and manipulated commodity in the quest for greater profits. "It's not that profitable to sell the same old chicken," said Striffler. "The way you make money is to create new products." In the late 1970s, Tyson sold fewer than 20 different chicken products, he said. Today its Web site advertises nearly 80 different products, most of which are precooked, frozen, or laden with additives. Ranch Flavored Chicken Fries, anyone?

As the demand for chicken grew and corporations took hold, "there's been a general increased mechanization," Striffler says. Speed and size drove production -- and making fatter birds topped the agenda. A report from the Economic Research Service with the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that chickens slaughtered in the late 1990s were a full 1½ pounds heavier than their 1960s counterparts.

Eighty-five percent of chicken sold in the 1970s and '80s was sold in its "unprocessed" form, and 15 percent was sold in processed varieties, according to Striffler. "By the end of the 1990s the numbers were completely reversed."

And, of course, the adverse health effects that processed foods bring are well-documented.