I don't know about you, but whenever I buy a chicken I tend to like it headless, footless and gutless.
Call me crazy but I just like to be able to throw that sucker in the deep fryer and cook it, no prep needed!
But if the state of Florida gets its way, small farmers will have to sell their butchered birds a little more, um, intact.
From the Pensacola News Journal:
Chris Williams and his brother have plans to open a farm on family property in Century in Escambia County and sell homegrown chicken products. ...
However, the Florida Department of Agriculture (FDACS) is proposing a significant change to the definition of 'dressed poultry' for small poultry farm producers, which they say would hurt Travis' business and possibly kill their plans to launch another farm.
The proposed FDACS rule would mandate that poultry be sold with the head, feet, and internal organs intact.
That's right: If you're in Florida and you want to head over to your neighbor's small farm and buy an oven-ready chicken, you may soon have to finish processing the bird yourself.
I'm not sure if you've ever gutted and chopped up a chicken, but it's quite an operation.
So why are they making this bizarre change? A spokesman for the state agriculture department, Aaron Keller, said the state wants to ensure "that consumers have a safe, affordable and reliable food supply." Not sure what basically un-processed chickens have to do with that!
In any event, it sounds like the pushback may have been strong enough to get the ball reversed on this:
FDACS has held one public hearing on the proposal and Keller said the feedback they received was 'helpful.'
He said they are now redrafting the rule and will announce and host another public hearing on the redrafted version.
DeSantis has been killing it in Florida. Hope his admin doesn't screw up its agriculture policy this badly!
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