How many people countrywide is Tyson chicken allowed to harm from a recall and continue business as usual?

[TexasBlues]

thank you for the explanation - I'd failed to factor time into the assumptions.

The numbers I quoted off of Karl Hammer don’t match up with what is being produced by commercial farms.
Thanks for pointing out the reality of production. If I ran the numbers personally… I would think my family of 4 eats 2 or 3 chickens a week. So 100-150 birds a year could supply the chicken portion of our protein.
I found him to be inspirational in that all of his chickens feed off of squandered human food and scraps destined for landfills.

 

[MysteryChicken]

You linked a recall from 2021?

Here you are - FDA's recall central, keyword "Chicken"

Why, its almost as if the big producers are using regulatory capture in the name of public safety to raise the barriers to entry (they are, actually). By testing for things like metals, plastics, listeria, salmonella, e coli and using granular tracking to follow lot numbers, suppliers, production runs, and locations. Much as "certified Organic" has the backing of a few large producers who have used regulation to raise the record keeping and inspection requirements to a point out of reach for the typical small farmer.

Local chicken is the Past.

...and yes, I raise and eat my own (chicken, goat, duck, rabbit). Others are unwilling to take such risks, and choose instead commercially produced products where the risk of injury or illness from consumption is remote. Tyson processes 47,000,000 chicken a week (2022). To help you put 9 million pounds of breaded chicken product into perspective.

and NPIP doesn't test for listeria.

I raise, & eat mine too. I actually prefer home grown over Store Chicken.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The numbers I quoted off of Karl Hammer don’t match up with what is being produced by commercial farms.
Thanks for pointing out the reality of production. If I ran the numbers personally… I would think my family of 4 eats 2 or 3 chickens a week. So 100-150 birds a year could supply the chicken portion of our protein.
I found him to be inspirational in that all of his chickens feed off of squandered human food and scraps destined for landfills.

its a REALLY big landfill. Someone here on BYC brought him to my attention a year or two ago, did some quick digging. He has a unique situation.

FWIW, I appreciate his longing for "simpler days". Just some assumptions baked into the math that seem a bit off which require recalculation.

Like it or not, the modern world of any first world economy has underpinnings made possible by specialization which allow economies of scale and efficiency not otherwise achievable. Tyson, Cal-Maine, Purdue, and all the rest produce reasonably priced, reasonably consistent, reasonably available chicken products for distribution all over. You aren't limited by what can be raised within 50 or 100 miles of home. That specialization isn't cost free of course - selction is usually the first thing to be sacrificed in the name of efficiency (i.e Henry Ford, "you can have any color you want, as long as its black"). But neither is it cost free to divert time and resources of, say, 1/6th of the population to do what a much much much smaller % of the population working for Tyson, Purdue, Cal-Maine and the like, instead of their current (assumedly gainful) use of time. The same is true of microchip production, fertilizer and plastics manufacture, and any other industry you might consider. Even banking enjoys benefits of "bigger" by spreading risk outside small geographic areas. But all of it carries a cost.

Up to you to decide whether those costs are worth it or not.

 

[TexasBlues]

The 15% thing is just a romantic idea. Can’t stop the machines.

 

[iatrics]

The product was shipped to distributors in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin for further distribution to the retail level.

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-a...ken-patty-product-due-possible-foreign-matter

Local chicken is the future.

Stuff like this is why I am raising meat chickens for the first time this year. It is terrifying how much wiggle room large companies get in the items that we put into our bodies. Much larger garden this year, and fresh meat for the freezer is the goal.

 

[Sally PB]

Of the 6 houses on my road (including mine), 2 of the families keep chickens (including me). Out here, we can have any farm animals we want; I don't think any of us would run into restrictions regarding space. So why doesn't every house out here have a chicken coop? Or barn with goats or bunnies, or any other animal raised for meat?

Well, lots of reasons, besides not wanting to. Poor health and infirmity is reason enough for one of the families.

But a big reason NOT to have animals is that they tie you down. Want to take off for a week and go to a friend's wedding 1200 miles away? Road trip! Nope. Who will take care of the chickens?

I'm going to run into this issue -- the friend's wedding 1200 miles away -- this coming fall. My "neighbor the chicken sitter" is the one with poor health now.

Maybe they'll elope...

 

[Nym]

Of the 6 houses on my road (including mine), 2 of the families keep chickens (including me). Out here, we can have any farm animals we want; I don't think any of us would run into restrictions regarding space. So why doesn't every house out here have a chicken coop? Or barn with goats or bunnies, or any other animal raised for meat?

Well, lots of reasons, besides not wanting to. Poor health and infirmity is reason enough for one of the families.

But a big reason NOT to have animals is that they tie you down. Want to take off for a week and go to a friend's wedding 1200 miles away? Road trip! Nope. Who will take care of the chickens?

I'm going to run into this issue -- the friend's wedding 1200 miles away -- this coming fall. My "neighbor the chicken sitter" is the one with poor health now.

Maybe they'll elope...

Many high schools are willing to offer your job/s to their more responcible students.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Of the 6 houses on my road (including mine), 2 of the families keep chickens (including me). Out here, we can have any farm animals we want; I don't think any of us would run into restrictions regarding space. So why doesn't every house out here have a chicken coop? Or barn with goats or bunnies, or any other animal raised for meat?

Well, lots of reasons, besides not wanting to. Poor health and infirmity is reason enough for one of the families.

But a big reason NOT to have animals is that they tie you down. Want to take off for a week and go to a friend's wedding 1200 miles away? Road trip! Nope. Who will take care of the chickens?

I'm going to run into this issue -- the friend's wedding 1200 miles away -- this coming fall. My "neighbor the chicken sitter" is the one with poor health now.

Maybe they'll elope...

Much likewise. I'm on 30 acres. Its one of the smaller properties in the area. To my knowledge, I have two neighbors within a several mile radius with flocks of their own, mine the largest by far. Technically, its "had" - one of those neighbors passed about 13 months ago. Strongly suspect the children who inherited the property simply let his flock "free". Meaning coyote food, most likely. By the sounds, we have two packs in the area.

https://weartv.com/news/local/seein...da-lately-its-winter-mating-season-02-20-2024

 

[11th Hour Poultry]

Stuff like this is why I am raising meat chickens for the first time this year. It is terrifying how much wiggle room large companies get in the items that we put into our bodies. Much larger garden this year, and fresh meat for the freezer is the goal.

You have a true backyard chicken mindset. I like it.

 

[Sally PB]

Strongly suspect the children who inherited the property simply let his flock "free". Meaning coyote food, most likely. By the sounds, we have two packs in the area.

Sigh. I'm sorry for that flock.

When we first moved out here, we'd hear coyotes "singing" at night. I haven't heard them in many, many years. Hubby thought he might have seen one on our road two years ago. I'd rather they didn't come back, as we have enough critters that would gladly eat my chickens: raccoons, feral cats, skunks, possums, foxes, stray dogs, hawks, and eagles. Those are the visible threats.

The wild geese and cranes migrating through might bring in the invisible threat of HPAI. Or another disease.

This is why I don't let my flock free range, and have them in a covered run. They are totally dependent upon me for their food, water, shelter, health, and safety. I take that responsibility very seriously.