JBS Buys Parts of Iowa Hog Supplier

Dec. 8, 2022

Tri-Oak is a source of sows free of gestation crates.

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JBS USA has moved to shore up its vertical integration in pork by buying “certain assets” of TriOak Foods, a pork producer based in Iowa.

Tri-Oak contracts with farmers to raise its hogs, then sells the market-ready hogs to JBS under a contract that has been in place since 2017. Terms of the deal were not announced, and a statement from JBS did not specify which assets were included.

JBS, the world’s largest beef company, also owns five U.S. pork processing plants. The TriOak deal gives JBS more secure access to hogs, especially sows bred without the use of gestation crates, which is forbidden by a California law now being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. TriOak hogs will be processed at JBS plants in Ottumwa, Iowa, and Beardstown, Ill.

“With a focus on meeting customer and consumer expectations, this announcement means that JBS USA will continue expanding our premium pork product mix, including open-pen gestation and Proposition 12-compliant hogs,” Marty Dooley, JBS USA pork president, said in the statement.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.