Coupon - $2 off Perdue Frozen Fully Cooked Chicken

Our foodservice poultry products and sliced meats are distributed nationwide and served almost anywhere food is prepared away from home. Our foodservice customers include many of the best-known national restaurant chains, the U.S. military, and the national and regional distributors who sell to local restaurants and other commercial and institutional customers.

We also sell edible oils, lecithin and other ingredients to major food manufacturers.

Agricultural Products and Services

Our feed manufacturing operations create a competitive market for local grain, while our grain merchandising programs help farmers maximize income from their crops.

Venture Milling, a wholly owned subsidiary, creates custom-blended proteins for livestock, including PROVAAL® for the dairy industry.

Perdue Fats and Proteins, LLC, operates protein conversion plants and sells premium grade pet and animal feed ingredients.

Heritage Breeders, LLC, another wholly owned subsidiary, markets a line of commercial breeder stock to other poultry companies. Though distinct from the breed used by Perdue, the Heritage line is a competitive alternative to other commercial breeds.

Perdue BioEnergy, LLC, pursues strategic opportunities in the growing field of renewable energies.

Perdue AgriRecycle, a joint venture, converts surplus poultry litter into organic pelleted and granular fertilizer products used in leading retail lawn and garden products and sold to agricultural and horticultural customers, including golf courses.

Design process steps

While it is difficult to describe in detail the design process for any live stock production since millions of elements are involved, there are still a few steps which are the most important in achieving the final product.

In the case of Perdue chicken breasts, the first important step is creating a broiler breed with the proper characteristics. The Perdue broiler breed was designed about 35 years ago by Frank Perdue, the owner and creator of Perdue Farms Inc., and subsequently improved by David Pollock, the current head of Perdue's genetic team. The created chicken has much more breast meat than other broilers. The team continues to work on improving its growth rate, feed conversion ratio, hatchability and other related qualities.

The second step is optimizing the feed for the broilers to maximize growth and feed conversion ratios as well as to improve the taste of the meat. Broilers are fed with three different types of feed: “starter” for the youngest, then “grower” and finally “finisher”. Each feed must have not only the proper nutritional value, but proper size and consistency for meeting the needs of the chickens at their various stages of development.

Every element of the feed has a profound influence on the final product and even slight changes can be beneficial or disastrous. For example, to achieve the yellow color of the Perdue chicken skin, the feed design team has added xanthraphyll, which can be found in Marigold petals.

Another important element is processing the chickens. Since yellow skin color is a selling point for Perdue, they developed a special procedure for de-feathering that maintains this color. The key to success is the temperature of the water in which chickens are dipped before feathering. Also the packaging is important, as it effects the attractiveness of the final product. While Perdue chicken breasts are more often than not sold raw, an additional step in designing the final product is creating marinades and specific meals.

Creation of parental stock is made by selective breeding, inbreeding practices and, especially in case of the most valuable specimens, artificial insemination. No genetic engineering per se is used during the process.

Employees involved in designing Perdue chicken breasts work in different locations, including: the laboratories of Heritage Breeders LLC, where they work on the Perdue breed's development; Venture Milling facilities, where new feed is tested; and the Perdue Innovation Center in Salisbury, where food specialists and chefs work on the chicken breast to create new products. Still, most of them do not spend all their time only in laboratories. They also visit the farms, slaughterhouses, and mills in order to explore new ways to improve the final product. There is no specific information about their wages, but the average for specialists working in animal research and development in the US is about $67,000 for new hires, and reaches $75,000 for managers.