Thinly sliced: Tyson fires ten staffers over chicken cruelty, how to calculate whole grain-ness, and more

This is the web version of a list we publish twice-weekly in our newsletter. It comprises the most noteworthy food stories of the moment, selected by our editors. Get it first here.

1. On Tuesday, we reported that Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was moving forward with plans to start drug testing applicants for SNAP (food stamps) assistance even though the Trump administration had not responded to his request for permission. At the end of the day, USDA issued a letter indicating that the agency might just let this one slide. Politico has more.

2. Beef cows have grown by 300 pounds since the 1970s. To cope with the animals’ changing bodies, butchers are turning to novel cuts and thinner steaks, the Washington Post reports.

3. After a member of the activist group Mercy For Animals filmed a video of Tyson subcontractors behaving cruelly to chickens, the company fired ten people, the Washington Post reports. While it’s not particularly notable that the video was released—this kind of thing happens all the time—we don’t often see companies respond so decisively. A turning point, perhaps?

4. Remember when that guy on Twitter asked for 18 million retweets to get Wendy’s nuggets for life? That tweet beat both Donald Trump and Barack Obama for most-retweeted of the year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Sixteen-year-old Carter Wilkinson wound up with only 3.5 million shares, and got the nuggets anyway.

5. “Whole grain” doesn’t necessarily mean “made entirely with whole grains.” A German milling firm is now helping consumers calculate just how much whole wheat is in their products, Food Dive reports.