Dive Brief:
- A new book by Christopher Leonard, The Meat Racket, critiques Tyson Foods' reshaping of the meat industry.
- While Leonard admires late president Don Tyson's foresight when it came to chicken passing beef and pork as the most popular meat in the U.S., he says the system the company built "keeps farmers in a state of indebted servitude, living like modern-day sharecroppers on the ragged edge of bankruptcy."
- Tyson contends that it provides those farmers with the means to prosper while ensuring customers that they are buying food that is safe and affordable, and that over $15 billion was paid to the independent farmers supplying the company with poultry and livestock.
Dive Insight:
While Leonard's criticism echoes that of activist groups like Rural Advancement Foundation International and the Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, NPR says his book is perhaps the most detailed account of Tyson Foods' inner workings to date. While the meat giant paints itself as a major supporter of its farmers — who some would argue aren't so independent because of their reliance on the company — Leonard told NPR that if something is wrong with chickens, the majority of losses fall on the farmers.
This isn't the only issue to frequently plague the meat giant or its farmers. Leonard's book comes on the heels of one of its most-publicized animal abuse incidents, in which a leaked video from an Oklahoma farm contracted to the company showed horrific abuse to pigs.
