Poultry in United States

Meat and poultry are foods that contain important nutrients like high-biological-value proteins, group B vitamins, minerals and trace elements, other bioactive compounds. In the United States, most poultry used for food are chicken and turkey. Some ducks and geese are consumed, but they are relatively insignificant as food source.

Most chickens used for egg production are Leghorn strain crosses. Crossbred chickens are generally used for broiler production. In both cases the chicken are bred for the type of production desired.

The rise in poultry consumption in the United States is mainly due to its low production costs and its dietary health benefits.

Most of the poultry is supplied by commercial hatcheries. Poultry may be purchased as day-old, started birds, or ready-to-lay chickens.

Its low production costs result largely from high feed-conversion ratio for growing poultry. For every pound of feed, the yield in poultry is about 0.56 Ib or 0.25 kg, a much greater yield value than can be obtained in the production of beef, pork and mutton.

Poultry processors have been successful in moving large volumes of prepackaged value added poultry products by offering convenience and service to both retailers and consumers.

The competitive price of poultry compared to red meats has led to the acceptance of prepackaged higher value poultry items.
Poultry in United States