

Poultry products from the same plant weren’t necessarily raised with the same practices or on the same farms. In different packaging and under different branding, chicken from that plant appeared on the shelves of a Trader Joe’s in California, a Walmart in New York state, a Whole Foods in Louisiana and a Kroger in West Virginia, as well as in packages from the ButcherBox meat delivery service. Submissions we received underscore the level of consolidation within the poultry industry - nearly 50 submissions were for chicken that traced back to just one Perdue plant in Milford, Delaware.

These large processors typically control every part of production, from hatching to slaughter to packaging, but the supply chain is almost entirely opaque to consumers. Similarly, there are three main processors of turkey, Butterball, Jennie-O and Cargill. is processed by five companies: Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride (JBS), Sanderson Farms, Mountaire Farms and Perdue Farms. Sometimes, poultry with the same label comes from different plants with very different levels of salmonella contamination.Īt the end of the day, there’s no label or certification that guarantees you’re getting poultry that would have only a less-risky strain of salmonella or that comes from a plant with a low salmonella rate. Submissions covering all 50 states and Washington, D.C., showed that your organic chicken from Whole Foods might be processed in the same facility that processes conventional chicken sold at a Kroger. Nearly 900 people submitted details about poultry packages they found in grocery stores across the country, including the P-numbers, which are typically printed on the packaging or price tag and identify where the meat was processed. Series: Unchecked America’s Broken Food Safety SystemĪmericans who want to buy the safest chicken and turkey have had little to go on beyond brand names and labels.īut those don’t tell the whole story, as we learned from the readers who’ve used our Chicken Checker app. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

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