Reply #2: Tyson

[Mojorabbit]

Formation of testing co-op by US poultry processors:

“According to the National Chicken Council, most U.S. chicken producers have agreed to participate in a testing program that will test bird flocks for avian flu before they are slaughtered.”

“Tyson Foods Inc. has more than one-quarter of the market, followed by Pilgrim's Pride Corp., Gold Kist Inc. and Perdue Farms Inc.”

http://www.newstarget.com/017989.html

News article on interview with Jim Perdue, of Perdue Farms, Inc.

“The threat of bird flu is hammering chicken prices overseas and hurting U.S. exports -- and it's only a matter of time until the United States is faced with its own avian influenza scare, the head of one of the nation's largest poultry producers said Wednesday in Orlando.

Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms Inc., said less-deadly strains of bird flu circulate all the time among birds and fowl, but public fears of the killer strain now in Asia and Eastern Europe will test the multibillion-dollar U.S. poultry industry when a milder version crops up on farms here.” ...

"It's backing up in freezers," Perdue said of U.S. chicken-meat exports to foreign countries.

That has hammered U.S. producers such as Tyson Foods Inc., the nation's largest chicken, beef and pork company, which reported on Monday that its first-quarter profit plunged 19 percent.

Tyson cited weak chicken prices, noting that demand is falling all across Asia, Europe and Russia as a result of bird-flu fears.”
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/food/orl-birdflu0206feb02,0,7303335.story?coll=orl-shoppinghg-headlinesinthek