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Exchange Exemplar: Where All That Chicken Comes From

Thegreenj, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2877208

We eat a lot of chicken in the United States. Since 1970, poultry consumption has nearly doubled, putting chicken on top of the list of most-consumed meats.

The poultry industry has had to crank up to a higher speed to be able to meet demand, and that's resulted in practices like the widespread use of antibiotics on chickens.

This and other details are described in journalist Mary McKenna's book Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats.

We revisit this interview from 2017, best consumed on an empty stomach.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Natalie Golay is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Mike Green hosts the show.