Honest Perdue, Honest Giblets?

A second federal class-action lawsuit has been filed against Perdue Farms, accusing the chicken processor of stuffing extra giblets into the cavities of its birds as a way to not only save waste-disposal costs but to make a bit of extra money in the process.

The latest suit was filed Monday in federal court in Chicago on behalf of Yesenia Nieto, identified only as an "Illinois resident." According to the Chicago Sun-Times, when Nieto "gets a bird that has more necks and gizzards, hearts and livers stuffed into its carcass than it carried while living, she gets really bothered."

Upon returning from shopping at a Jewel store (or as it's called in Chicago, "over by da Jewels"), Nieto noticed that her newly purchased bird "contained an extra bag of giblets stuffed into the body cavity."

It's not yet clear how the suit is related to one filed earlier this month in New Jersey, which, using similar language to the Chicago-based suit, accused Perdue of "tricking customers into paying the regular per-pound price" for chickens and reaping "millions of dollars in improper charges."

"But aren't gizzards the best part?" wondered the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog. "Clearly these people have never tasted a good chicken giblet gravy."

Perdue apparently agrees, even if most people don't really want an extra heart in their bird. Spokeswaoman Julie DeYoung told the Law Blog that, while she couldn't comment on the lawsuit, "I can tell you the majority of our giblets complaints are about MISSING giblets."