Swift & Company
Encyclopedia
JBS S.A.
JBS is the largest Brazilian multinational in the food industry, producing fresh, chilled, and processed beef, chicken and pork, and also selling by-products from the processing of these meats. It is headquartered in São Paulo."." JBS S.A. Retrieved on February 3, 2011...
(BM&F Bovespa:JBSS3), a Brazilian company that is the world's largest processor of fresh beef and pork, with more than US$30 billion in annual sales as of 2010. It is also the largest beef processor in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Swift & Company is based in Greeley, Colorado
Greeley, Colorado
The City of Greeley is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Weld County, Colorado, United States. Greeley is located in the region known as Northern Colorado. Greeley is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to the...
. Its competitors include Cargill
Cargill
Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500,...
, Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods, Inc. is the world’s largest pork producer and processor. Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, it runs facilities in 26 U.S. states, including the world's largest meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, and has operations in Brazil, China, France, Mexico, Poland,...
, and Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods, Inc. is a multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork only behind Brazilian JBS S.A., and annually exports the largest percentage of beef out of...
. In 2007, it was acquired by Brazilian JBS S.A..
History
The meat packaging company was founded in 1855 by Gustavus Franklin SwiftGustavus Franklin Swift
Gustavus Franklin Swift founded a meat-packing empire in the Midwest during the late 19th century, over which he presided until his death...
in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to meatpacking, Swift sold various dairy and grocery items, including Swiftning shortening
Shortening
Shortening is any fat that is solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry. The reason it is called shortening is because it prevents cross-linkage between gluten molecules. Cross linking is what causes doughs to be sticky. Seeing as cake is not meant to be sticky, shortening is used...
, Allsweet margarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
, Brookfield butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
, cheese under the Pauly and Treasure Cave
Saputo Incorporated
Saputo Inc. is a Montreal-based Canadian dairy company. Founded as a cheese store in 1954 by Italian immigrant Giuseppe Saputo, today Saputo’s business includes cheese, baked goods and milk production, and it is the world's twelfth largest dairy producing company...
brands, and Peter Pan
Peter Pan (peanut butter)
Peter Pan is a brand of peanut butter produced by ConAgra Foods and named after the J.M. Barrie character. The product was introduced by Swift & Company in 1920 under the name "E. K. Pond". The product was renamed in 1928...
peanut butter. Swift began selling frozen turkeys under the Butterball
Butterball
Butterball is a brand of turkey and other poultry products produced by Butterball LLC. The company manufactures food products in the United States and internationally — specializing in turkey, cured deli meats, raw roasts and specialty products such as soups and salads, sandwiches, and...
brand in 1954.
Swift began moving into other fields, including insurance and petroleum, in the 1960s, and formed a holding company, Esmark, in 1973. Two years later, Esmark bought International Playtex
Playtex
Playtex and PlayTex are a brand and trademark. It used to be associated with bras and women's undergarments. Currently there are two separate companies with the Playtex name....
from Meshulam Riklis' Rapid-American Corporation.
Esmark left the petroleum business in 1980, selling Vickers Petroleum to Mobil, while Swift's fresh meat business was spun off as a separate company, Swift Independent Packing Company (SIPCO) the same year. Esmark went on to purchase Norton Simon
Norton Simon
Norton Winfred Simon , in the United States was a millionaire industrialist and philanthropist based in California. A significant art collector, he is the namesake of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California.-Early life:...
Inc. in 1983 before being purchased by Beatrice Foods
Beatrice Foods
Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company. In 1987, its smaller international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of its domestic brands and assets were acquired by Kohlberg,...
the next year. ConAgra purchased half of Swift in 1988 and the other half in 1990, the same year ConAgra bought Beatrice Foods.
In 2009, JBS USA acquired 63% of Pilgrim's Pride
Pilgrim's Pride
Pilgrim's Corp., previously Pilgrim's Pride , is a former U.S.-owned company with its U.S. headquarters relocated to Greeley, Colorado. As a subsidiary of the Brazilian food giant, JBS, it is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer...
Chicken Company. That brand has been renamed as Pilgrim's. Since then JBS increased its share to 67%.
Recent difficulties
In 2002, Swift & Company was purchased by Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, a leading, Dallas-based private equity firm, and Booth Creek Management.In December 2006, six of the company’s meat-packing facilities in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, and Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
were raided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
officials, resulting in the apprehension of 1,282 illegal aliens from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, and Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, and nearly 200 of them criminally charged after a ten month investigation into identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
.
On July 12, 2007 JBS S.A.
JBS S.A.
JBS is the largest Brazilian multinational in the food industry, producing fresh, chilled, and processed beef, chicken and pork, and also selling by-products from the processing of these meats. It is headquartered in São Paulo."." JBS S.A. Retrieved on February 3, 2011...
, the largest beef processor in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
and one of the largest worldwide beef exporters, purchased Swift & Company in a US$1.5 billion all-cash deal. The acquisition makes the newly consolidated JBS Swift Group the largest beef processor in the world. Prior to the deal JBS had market capitalization
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
of US$4.2 billion and sales revenue of $2.1 billion, and operated in 23 plants in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and 5 in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
On July 11, 2007 The Swift companies had also completed several tender offer
Tender offer
Tender offer is a corporate finance term denoting a type of takeover bid. The tender offer is a public, open offer or invitation by a prospective acquirer to all stockholders of a publicly traded corporation to tender their stock for sale at a specified price during a specified time, subject to...
s and consent solicitations for financing notes. These included 10⅛% Senior Notes due 2009 and 12½% Senior Subordinated Notes due January 1, 2010 both issued by Swift & Company, 11% Senior Notes due 2010 issued by S&C Holdco 3 and 10¼% Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes due 2010 issued by Swift Foods Company.
On June 24, 2009 the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service
Food Safety and Inspection Service
The Food Safety and Inspection Service , an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture , is the public health agency responsible for ensuring that the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged...
(FSIS) announced that JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colo. establishment, recalled approximately 41,280 pounds of beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. By June 30, the recall had risen to over 421,000 pounds.
The beef products were produced on April 21 and 22, 2009, and were shipped to distributors and retail establishments in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.
On November 4, 2010 the FMCSA ordered JBS Carriers, a subsidiary of JBS to install electronic on-board recorder
Electronic on-board recorder
An electronic on-board recorder is an electronic device attached to a commercial motor vehicle, which is used to record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven...
s on their trucks after a compliance review found "serious violation of federal hours-of-service
Hours of service
The hours of service are regulations issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration governing the working hours of anyone operating a commercial motor vehicle in the United States for the purpose of "interstate commerce"— moving commercial goods from one U.S. state to another...
.
In December 2010,JBS/Swift was assessed a $175,000 civil penalty for violating The Packer and Stockyards Act by failing to disclose when missing Fat-O-Meat’er data has prevented JBS from calculating the lean percent of a particular pork carcass or carcasses in a seller’s lot; and substituting an undisclosed lean value for pork carcasses with missing data when calculating carcass-merit payment for hogs delivered to JBS’ Worthington, Minn., Marshalltown, Iowa, and Louisville, Ky., processing plants. The Packers and Stockyards Act is a fair trade practice and payment protection law that promotes fair and competitive marketing environments for the livestock, meat, and poultry industries.
See also
- Cactus, TX, Location of a JBS Meatpacking plant.
- KD StationKD StationKD Station was a retail and entertainment attraction built inside the facilities of a former meat packing plant in Sioux City, Iowa.-History:*The building was constructed in 1917 and purchased by Swift and Company in 1919....
, a former Swift & Company plant.