Processor Profiles

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Expansion of the product was methodical but steady, until early 2017, when a partnership with Certified Angus Beef LLC was formally announced with the launch of Certified Angus Beef-branded Uncured Beef Slices (Schmacon).

Jason Ainslie never intended to go into the meat processing business, nor did he ever intend to become an expert in the history of rabbit meat production in the United States.

Make no mistake: The National Provisioner's 2017 Processor of the Year, Monogram Foods, is a proven winner.

Since 2005, Laurel, Miss.-based chicken processor Sanderson Farms has been on an unmatched record of expansion in the meat industry, building and opening five processing plants (with a sixth brand new plant planned to open in 2019).

Andy Hanacek, editor-in-chief, sits down with Kay Johnson Smith, president and CEO of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, to discuss the strategies and tactics the Alliance has taken to connect the meat and poultry industry to consumers and protect it from extreme activist groups.

Burgers’ Smokehouse has undergone many expansions, additions and upgrades, but the important aspects of its business haven’t changed. The company still uses its traditional curing methods; it’s just applying its traditions to a wider range of products, and at a larger scale than ever before.

Canned meats have, right or wrong, developed a reputation as a substandard product, made with the cheapest cuts and leftover trimmings, packed with preservatives. That is of course a false assumption, and one Keystone Meats works to change consumer perception about.

For 31 years, Thomas Shelton has watched Case Farms grow from two employees (counting himself) and zero plants to approximately 3,200 employees, four processing plants, one further-processing plant, three feed mills and four hatcheries in Ohio and North Carolina today.

In February 2017, editor-in-chief Andy Hanacek visited with Thomas Shelton, chairman and founder of Case Farms, for an exclusive interview at his home. What follows is a portion of their discussion on the company’s past, present and future:

It took 55 years for Harper’s Country Hams of Clinton, Ky. to become one of the nation’s leading producers of cured ham. Yet in only a few hours, a massive fire turned the 100,000-square-foot plant into pile of twisted steel and smoldering rubble.