• The Morning News, Financial Times, Tuesday, May 5, 2009 11:15 AM

Kim Souza's lede had me cackling at sunrise: "Poultry companies have found a market for everything but the cluck in the low margin, high volume business of chicken processing." And that's about all you need to know, probably, about the 988 million pounds of chicken feet and paws shipped to China last year, or the one billion pounds of processed feathers whose keratin is used in shampoo and skin care products as well as products such as wet wipes and baby diapers.

The bottom line is that for every penny per pound Tyson earns on its feathers, it adds $10 million to its coffers. And every one of those dollars helps the world's biggest meat producer, which reports that it has turned the corner after a turbulent year that lead to the ouster of CEO Dick Bond in January.

Even before the recession affected consumers' food-buying habits, Tyson was squeezed by high grain prices, which dragged its chicken unit -- and the whole company -- into the red, Hal Weitzman reports in the Financial Times.

But Leland Tollett, Tyson's interim president and CEO, says that as of Monday, Tyson is "making money on all of our businesses."

Read the whole story at The Morning News, Financial Times »