The paper reports on the results of a joint survey of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the rate of occurrence and concentration of chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (CDDs), chlorinated dibenzofurans (CDFs), and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the fat of U.S. poultry animals. This survey, conducted in 1997, was the first statistically designed national survey of levels of CDDs/CDFs/PCBs in poultry animals in the U.S. It was prompted by EPA's Reassessment of Dioxin-Like Compounds and funded from EPA's Dioxin Exposure Initiative. It is the third joint USDA/EPA effort of its kind. The first two were national studies of beef back fat and pork belly fat.