Major Increase in Poultry Slaughter

WASHINGTON - Mar 2/01 - STAT -- January saw a major increase in poultry slaughter activity in the United States, as the ready to cook weight of all types of poultry jumped 8% to 3.11 billion pounds. Updated totals for December 2000 show that 2.81 billion pounds were certified.

The USDA said preliminary total live weight of poultry inspected during January 2001 was 4.20 billion pounds, up 8% from a year ago.

Inspections included 3.54 billion pounds of young chickens, 7% above last year; 70.1 million pounds of mature chickens, down slightly; 575 million pounds of turkeys, up 13%; and 15.3 million pounds of ducks, up 9% from January 2000.

Young chickens slaughtered during January 2001 averaged 5.03 pounds per bird, down slightly from January 2000. The average live weight of mature chickens was 5.11 pounds per bird, nearly the same as a year ago. Turkeys slaughtered during January 2001 averaged 27.2 pounds per bird, up 2% from January 2000.

Ante-mortem condemnations during January 2001 totaled 19.9 million pounds. Condemnations were 0.47% of the live weight inspected, compared with 0.46% a year earlier. Post-mortem condemnations, at 63.4 million pounds (N.Y. dressed weight), were 1.68% of quantities inspected, compared with 1.83% a year earlier.

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