Nobody likes to be called a big chicken, and there's a good chance the poultry industry won't appreciate the term, either.
But journalist Maryn McKenna says the power and practices of the business lend themselves to the name. She uses it for the title of her book, too: Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats.
Note the focus on antibiotics, still used in chickens at a time when doctors are warning against the casual use of the drugs. This and more are examined in the book, and the author joins us to talk about it.