When it recently acquired former rival Holly Farms, Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyon Foods,Inc.became the largest producer and marketer of pre-cooked chicken products in the United States.Before buying Holly Farms,Tyson's chicken production was strained as it attempted to keep up with the demands of its booming food-service business and the public's increasing preference for chicken. However,in addition to gaining Holly Farms' pre-cooked chicken operation,Tyson has also inherited some of the same problems Holly Farms had with this type of product.
Over the last few years,as more health-conscious consumers sought diets lower in calories and cholesterol,the demand for chicken steadily rose. Because of this,and the growing demand for food that could be easily and quickly prepared at home,Holly Farms executives believed that their line of pre-cooked chicken products would be a great success. They did not anticipate the extensive distribution problems they would encounter.They also underestimated the high costs and waste involved with selling prepared foods.
The highest costs associated with pre-cooked chicken are distribution costs.One supermarket analyst refers to the distribution of fresh foods as a distribution “nightmare.”He contendsthat there is no way that fresh food producers can adequately support their products at the retail level.
Perishable prepared foods are expensive to produce(labor costs are tremendous),relatively expensive for the consumers to buy, and subject to spoilage loss.The biggest problem with pre-cooked chicken is its short shelf life.Grocery retailers are accustomed to ordering food products long in advance, warehousing the products, and then placing them on shelves as shelf-space availability dictates.Grocers who did not make proper adjustments when handling Holly Farms products began to lose much of the chicken to spoilage because it was stored too long in warehouses.So even though consumers seemed to like the products,quite a lot of supermarkets began to discontinue carrying them.
Holly Farms was trying to sell a popular consumer item that many supermarkets did not like.Also,since many supermarket chains areexperimenting with their own versions of prepared chicken,some are not anxious to cooperate with Tyson in ironing out the distribution problems.
Tyson will need extensive interaction with retailers in orderfor its pre-cooked chicken line to be successful.Tyson may need to explore more advanced cooking technology that will enable its chicken products to have longer shelf lives.Tyson officials may have to rethink the entire distribution process set up by Holly Farms.
The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.
A、the reason why Tyson Foods should improve the entire distribution process
B、the problems Tyson Foods should deal with.
C、the necessity for Holly Foods to make the shelf life of chicken products longer
D、what Holly Farms should do to make its pre-cooked chicken operation a success
【正确答案】：D
【名师解析】:根据题目内容，最后一段主要讲述了Tyson Foods在接管Holly Farms后需要面对和解决的问题。然而，题目的答案选项D表述的是Holly Farms应该做什么以使其预煮鸡肉业务成功，这与最后一段的内容并不直接相关。最后一段实际上强调了Tyson Foods需要与零售商进行广泛的互动，探索更先进的烹饪技术以延长鸡肉产品的保质期，并可能需要重新考虑Holly Farms建立的整个分销流程。因此，正确答案应该是B，即Tyson Foods应该处理的问题。
