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

[U_Stormcrow]

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.

Mother Nature is an uncaring ..tch. At least the birds didn't go to total waste.

But the larger point remains. In spite of broadly "agrarian" lifestyles, and ample land, in an economically depressed area of the country, my neighbors have almost all chosen to specialize in other endeavors rather than maintain their own flocks for meat/eggs.

We have a couple of people raising cattle, two huge (well, looks huge to me) grape orchards, lots of people commuting into town for other work, I believe someone else nearby raises goats, another specializes in hunting dogs, and a lot of land used for either timber or personal retreats.

 

[Sally PB]

Mother Nature is an uncaring ..tch. At least the birds didn't go to total waste.

True, both.

In spite of broadly "agrarian" lifestyles, and ample land, in an economically depressed area of the country, my neighbors have almost all chosen to specialize in other endeavors rather than maintain their own flocks for meat/eggs.

I wonder what the "break even," or "it's worth it to me," point is (they might not be the same) on flock size for various people. I certainly would save money by buying eggs at the store. Probably even if I bought the premium priced free range organic eggs, depending on the "egg crisis" situation. Or else we'd eat fewer eggs.

They do provide a lot of manure for the garden. That's "the other gift" my chickens give me.

My neighbor has 3x as many chickens as I do. I assume, since she still has them, and they're just for eggs, that it's worth it to her. She has other reasons for keeping chickens, such as "life lessons" for her 3 home schooled boys.

I doubt we could survive on what we grow here. Hubby would have to change his midset on me hunting or raising chickens for meat (not gonna stir that pot), and our diet would change drastically. We structured our financial situation so that we could retire out here and though I'd love to be self sufficient, I don't know if that's possible.

So I'll still be buying chicken at the store for the foreseeable future.

 

[Molpet]

I don't like how commercial meat is raised and that's why I have been raising most of my poultry since 2017.

They also treat the farmers that raise the chickens badly. The farmers have to follow their procedures and can't raise the broilers any other way due to the contract. That is how chicken went from this
special Sunday dinner to the cheapest meat.
It costs me about $7 a lb for mixed meat mutts. At the store the regular price of the Tyson whole broilers is $2.50 a lb. The CX broiler at the farmers market was $6 lb back in 2016. Not everyone can afford meat at those prices .

My brother works at a Tyson bacon plant repairing plant refrigeration equipment. I asked him about these recalls for metal and plastic in the meat. He said there's a metal detector and when it's tested if it's not working everything since the last test is recalled. I'm not sure how often it's tested.
If a piece of equipment looses plastic parts, everything is recalled that was made on that line.
In these two cases it's a precaution and nothing was actually found in the product.
If something is reported to be found in the product there's a bigger recall.
My brother is a typical worker and definitely not a company man so I don't think he is trying to cover for them.

 

[Sefirothe]

Years ago I worked in a food manufacturing plant (bread products). The metal detectors on each production line were tested at least once if not more often per 8 hour shift. This was usually frequent enough to catch any problems and keep any product going out the door if there was a failure. I don't remember a single genuine recall the entire time I worked there, tho we frequently participated in "mock" recalls to ensure one could be performed if needed.

In any case, I saw enough other problems while I was there to ensure I will still never ever eat any brands produced by that company....ever.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

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?

This is one of the reasons I don’t have chickens presently. I looked into various ways of cutting down the workload and/or automating as much as possible - automatic doors on the coop, deep litter method to cut down the amount of cleaning that needed to be done, keeping them fed and watered by the simple expedient of having way more food and water on hand than they could eat in the time I would be gone, possibly rollout boxes to ‘harvest’ the eggs so they don’t fall victim to egg eaters…I’m probably missing things even without taking emergencies into consideration, but even just all of that took quite a bit of research to put together as a plan, so I can’t really blame anyone for wanting to find something else that allowed more personal flexibility.

 

[Molpet]

Years ago I worked in a food manufacturing plant (bread products). The metal detectors on each production line were tested at least once if not more often per 8 hour shift. This was usually frequent enough to catch any problems and keep any product going out the door if there was a failure. I don't remember a single genuine recall the entire time I worked there, tho we frequently participated in "mock" recalls to ensure one could be performed if needed.

In any case, I saw enough other problems while I was there to ensure I will still never ever eat any brands produced by that company....ever.

Probably just as bad at other companies. I try to avoid most processed food. But I can't have wheat or cows milk products so it's easier to just make it myself

 

[Chickenberg Goldenegg]

It's ok because it's government sanctioned. Just make sure you don't cause any issues while not being government sanctioned because your now competing with the government.

 

[Emmaloveschickens9156]

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 understand, but I could never eat my babies. All the animals that come to our farm are rescues, or pets. I get too attached to every living thing.

 

[Molpet]

I understand, but I could never eat my babies. All the animals that come to our farm are rescues, or pets. I get too attached to every living thing.

Are you a vegetarian?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I understand, but I could never eat my babies. All the animals that come to our farm are rescues, or pets. I get too attached to every living thing.

Which has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not commercially produced chicken from Mega companies like Tyson are more or less safe than raising our own poultry at home.