SHAWNEE MISSION, Kan., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Seaboard Foods announced today the beginning of the sales and marketing of pork products from the new St. Joseph, Mo., pork processing plant, which began operations this week and is owned and operated by Triumph Foods. In 2004, Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods entered into an agreement pursuant to which Seaboard Foods will market all of the products produced at the Triumph plant. With the St. Joseph plant opening, Seaboard Foods will market and sell pork products from the two newest, most modern large-scale pork processing plants in the United States.
The St. Joseph plant joins an integrated food system known for unsurpassed quality control and food safety. The same state-of-the-art technology and practices used in the Guymon plant have been incorporated into the new plant.
"The St. Joseph plant will operate at the same level for quality and food safety as the Guymon plant. We've shared our knowledge and experience from our state-of-the-art Guymon processing plant to assist with the design and equipment selections for the St. Joseph plant," says Rod Brenneman, president of Seaboard Foods. "We're excited about the opportunities this plant brings to Seaboard Foods as well as the opportunity to offer our loyal customers a larger supply of the finest pork products."
The St. Joseph plant has implemented the Seaboard Foods Quality Circle to ensure products will meet customers' expectations. The quality circle begins where it ends with the consumer. The circle's quality control points include consumer-driven products, genetics, production, animal nutrition, animal handling, state-of-the-art processing, food safety, residue-free pork, packaging, employee training and customer service. As a circle, the system inherently contains a continuous improvement process that's evaluated through ongoing research and development.
The livestock supply for the St. Joseph plant will come from a coordinated production system with strict control of genetics, nutrition, environment and animal handling practices, and will share the Guymon animal production system's commitment to superb meat quality and consistency.
Just like the products produced in Seaboard Foods' Guymon plant, products from the St. Joseph plant will be USDA Process Verified for meat quality, animal handling and source verification. The St. Joseph plant contains a USDA Process Verified proprietary quick chill system for improved meat quality attributes like color, texture and moisture-holding capacity. The animal handling procedures and employee training are USDA Process Verified, also. The animal handling facilities were evaluated and approved by world-renowned animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin and will include daily audits of animal handling practices. In addition, the plant contains a source verification system allowing for boxed product to be traced to source farms.
Products produced in the St. Joseph plant will be marketed under the PrairieFresh(R) Premium Pork brand for the domestic market and the Seaboard Farms(R) brand for international markets.
Seaboard Foods, a subsidiary of Seaboard Corporation , which is headquartered in Shawnee Mission, Kan., is an integrated food company and a leading U.S. pork producer and a top exporter of pork to Japan and Mexico. Products sold internationally bear the Seaboard Farms(R) brand. In the United States, Seaboard Foods markets fresh products under the PrairieFresh(R) Premium Pork brand and processed meats under the Daily's(R) Premium Meats brand. In addition to its food safety commitment, Seaboard Foods has been recognized for its aggressive research and development, and proactive environmental standards. For more information, log onto the company Web site at http://www.seaboardfoods.com/ .
