Word: tysons
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...appearances are especially painful when it comes to Clinton and the chicken industry. One reason is that Clinton relied on Tyson officials as a source of campaign funds while running for Arkansas' governorship and for the presidency. In his home state, Clinton gave the poultry industry special treatment, such as tolerating the pollution of the state's waterways with chicken waste products. In Washington the relationship is even more delicate because the Federal Government controls meat inspection. And Espy's ethical blindness is symptomatic of the cozy bond that has long existed between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and those...
...Regulations allow as much as 8% of a chicken's weight to be water, which consumers pay for as if it were meat. "When it comes to chicken," says Jack Leighty, a retired director of the USDA's pathology division, "water is big business." So big, in fact, that Tyson alone would lose about $40 million in annual gross profits if the 8% rule were repealed. One study has shown that cross-contamination can be eliminated simply by placing the carcasses in sealed plastic bags during the chilling stage. That measure, however, would halt water absorption...
Poor working conditions, too, have an impact on food quality. Antoinette Poole, 40, quit last month after working at a Tyson plant in Dardanelle, Arkansas, for five years. Her job: scooping up chicken breasts that fell off the processing line and onto the factory floor -- and rinsing them off with cold water. Poole claims she was so overworked that chicken parts sometimes sat on the floor for as long as half an hour. "Sometimes it stinks to high heaven, but who cares? Once it's frozen it ain't gonna smell bad. But I wouldn't want my family...
Across the factory floor from where Poole used to work is Mearl Pipes, a 49- year-old sanitation employee who has toiled in the Tyson plant for nine years. This summer, at a meeting between employees and managers, says Pipes, "we asked why we're required to package chicken that smells bad, and they said the chicken can smell bad due to bacteria but it can still be of good quality. That's bull as far as I'm concerned." Tyson denies the charges of the workers, one of whom is a union organizer, but says an investigation will...
...passed through the chill tank. But USDA officials rejected this idea because the visible evidence of contamination would have been washed off. At the meeting, industry representatives grew angry and left the impression that they would protest -- which they may indeed have done. Several hours after that session, Tyson's lobbyist, Jack Williams, met with Espy in the Secretary's office, sources told TIME. A Tyson spokesman insists the zero- tolerance proposal was not discussed, but a USDA participant in the earlier session was later told to "destroy" everything he had regarding zero tolerance for poultry. The plan then languished...