Kirkus Reviews described the book's message as "Using Tyson as a window on modern meat production, Leonard shows how the company has eliminated free market competition through vertical integration, buying up independent suppliers (feed mills, slaughterhouses and hatcheries) and controlling farmers through restrictive contracts.

"[3] In The Wall Street Journal, Moira Hodgson wrote that the book describes how the company founder John W. Tyson "left his nearly bankrupt family's farm in Missouri.

Having tight control over the whole supply chain paid off and Tyson Foods is one of the largest meat producer in the world, with a practical monopoly on wings, nuggets and tenders plus a stronghold on pork and beef as well.

McWilliams concluded that a chicken farmer "has no control over the health of his birds or the quality of his feed", adding that "an unruly contract grower will quickly become the unknowing recipient of inferior food and sick hatchlings—in essence, the season’s dregs.

We sit in Neal's Café, a small diner in Springdale, Arkansas, as John and Don Tyson, in their matching khaki coveralls, discuss corporate strategy and contrive the McDonalds McNugget.

Founded during the Great Depression, Tyson Foods fashioned a highly profitable empire through smart alliances with bankers, creating a network of local contract farmers and keeping them on a short economic leash while controlling the entirety of the supply chain.