15 Facts About Perdue Farms

Perdue Farms is the parent company of Perdue Foods and Perdue AgriBusiness, based in Salisbury, Maryland.

Perdue Farms Foods is a major chicken, turkey, and pork processing company in the United States.

Perdue Farms started out selling table eggs, then in 1925, Perdue built the company's first hatchery, and switched to selling layer chicks to farmers instead of eggs.

Perdue Farms began contracting with local farmers to raise its birds and supplying chickens for processing as well as opening a second hatchery in North Carolina during this period.

Perdue Farms entered the grain and oilseed business by building grain receiving and storage facilities and Maryland's first soybean processing plant.

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In 1991, Frank's son Jim Perdue Farms was named Chairman, becoming the third generation of leaders from the Perdue Farms family.

In 2007, Perdue Farms removed all human antibiotics from its feed and launched the Harvestland brand, under which it sold products that met the requirements for an “antibiotic-free” label.

In 2014, Perdue Farms removed all antibiotics from its hatchery, and began using the “antibiotic free” labels on its Harvestland, Simply Smart and Perfect Portions products.

In March 2017, Jim Perdue, chairman of Perdue Farms, announced Randy Day would be promoted from COO to CEO.

Perdue Farms would remain as the chairman of the board of directors.

Perdue Farms has been criticized for its factories' lack of adherence to some basic animal-welfare practices.

The guidelines that Perdue Farms follows, created by the National Chicken Council, have drawn criticism for allowing birds to be deprived of light, food, and water for long periods, and for permitting animals to be hung upside-down by their ankles before slaughter.

In 2010, the Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit against Perdue Farms for violating a New Jersey consumer fraud law by applying the labels "purely all-natural" and "humanely raised" to its products when reasonable consumers would not consider the conditions Perdue Farms chickens are raised in “humane.

Perdue Farms has been criticized for allegedly polluting the Chesapeake Bay.

In 2010, the Assateague Coastal Trust sued Perdue Farms for violating the Clean Water Act by allegedly allowing excessive chicken manure to run into the bay.