January 2, 2008

US poultry: Ready-to-cook weight up 3 percent

US poultry certified wholesome or ready-to-cook weight totaled 3.57 billion pounds, up 3 percent in November against same period last year, according to USDA.

Preliminary total live weight of poultry inspected by US officials on November was 4.81 billion pounds, up 3 percent from 4.67 billion pounds a year ago. Young chickens totaled 4.07 billion pounds, rising 3 percent on-year.  Mature chickens, at 64.7 million pounds, were up slightly from last year.  Turkey inspections totaled 660 million pounds, increasing also by 3 percent from a year ago.  Ducks totaled 15.7 million pounds, down 1 percent from last year.