March 26, 2009

US poultry certified wholesome during February 2009 (ready-to-cook weight) decreased 8 percent year-on-year to 3.19 billion pounds.

The January 2009 revised certified total at 3.39 billion pounds was down 12 percent on-year. The January revision represented an increase of 523,000 pounds from last month's preliminary pounds certified.

The preliminary total live weight of US poultry inspected in February was 4.27 billion pounds, down 9 percent from a year ago. Young chickens inspected decreased 8 percent to 3.64 billion pounds, while mature chickens fell 15 percent to 59.4 million pounds from a year ago.

Turkey and duck inspections decreased 12 percent and 17 percent to 558 million pounds and 11.2 million pounds, respectively.

Young chickens slaughtered during February averaged 5.54 pounds per bird, up slightly from February 2008.

Average live weight of mature chickens declined 1 percent on-year to 5.85 pounds per bird, while turkey also fell 1 percent to 29.6 pounds per bird.

Ante-mortem condemnations in February totalled 12.5 million pounds. Condemnations were 0.29 percent of the live weight inspected, as compared with 0.36 percent a year ago.

Post-mortem condemnations reached 38.7 million pounds and were 1.2 percent of quantities inspected, as compared with 1.35 percent a year ago.