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Lesson 9: Food Processing

Major Food Processors

Now we’ll go through a few examples of the major food processors to give you an idea of how they are structured. Starting with Dean Foods, which is mostly a dairy processor. They contract with dairy farmers to buy their milk, process (pasteurize) it, and then sell it under the name Dean as well as many other brands (See Figure 9.5). The company is based in Dallas but they have a large international presence.

The now called KraftHeinz is a more general food processor. They buy a variety of ingredients to make many different products, like you see in Figure 9.6. Their focus is mostly on US grocery shoppers.

Finally, Tyson Foods is an example of a vertically integrated company and one of the largest meat processors in the world (if not the largest). They own the layers that lay the eggs that become chicks that become broilers (meat chickens) that are processed into fresh/raw meat, and sometimes further processed into other products, such as chicken nuggets. It’s not just chicken! They also do pork and beef products. They sell directly to consumers in grocery stores as well as many restaurants, such a McDonalds, hospitals, and the military. Within the food processing industry, food animal processing is the largest employer.

Though we’ve highlighted some large companies here, many food processors are actually small businesses. Eighty-nine percent of the food processing companies employee less than 100 workers.

Among the 50 states, Pennsylvania is a major food processor. Pennsylvania ranks highly in these food processing industries:

• Canned and frozen fruit and vegetable products (#1)
• Chocolate and cocoa products (#1)
• Potato chips and pretzels (#1)
• Brewing (#6)
• Ice Cream and dairy products
• Egg and meat processing