.png) | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| (as Esmark)NYSE: ESMK (no longer trading) | |
| Industry | Meatpacking |
| Founded | 1855; 171 years ago (1855) |
| Founder | Gustavus Franklin Swift  |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Key people | Wesley Batista Filho (CEO) |
| Revenue |  US$27.8 billion(2017) |
Number of employees | 78,000+ |
| Parent | JBS S.A. |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | jbsfoodsgroup |
JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is ameat processing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian multinationalJBS S.A. The subsidiary was created when JBS entered the U.S. market in 2007 with its purchase ofSwift & Company.
JBS USA is based inGreeley, Colorado.[1] Its competitors includeHormel Foods,Cargill,Smithfield Foods,National Beef, andTyson Foods.
Swift & Company operations can be traced back to 1855, when 16-year-oldGustavus Franklin Swift founded a butchering operation inEastham, Massachusetts.[2] Its early origins onCape Cod led later to locations inBrighton (in Massachusetts), andAlbany, andBuffalo, New York. In 1875, Swift and Company was incorporated in Chicago. Swift andArmour and Company acquired a two-thirds controlling interest in theFort Worth Stockyards in 1902.[3] That same year, an antitrust lawsuit was filed against Swift for conspiring with other companies to control the meatpacking industry. The companies attempted to merge to avoid the suit, leading to the 1905 Supreme Court case ofSwift & Co. v. United States.
By the 1920s Swift and Company operated their largest and most modern meat processing plant inSouth St Paul, Minnesota. The purpose of this plant was to slaughter and process cattle, hogs, and sheep. These animals were procured by the company buyers at the adjacent St. Paul Union Stockyards. The live animals were driven across overhead ramps to the killing floors. Swift processed fresh, smoked, table-ready, canned meats, such asPrem, and baby foods, along with soap, lard, shortening, adhesives, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, hides and animal feeds. Operations were discontinued at the South St. Paul Plant effective November 29, 1969.
In addition to meatpacking, Swift sold various dairy and grocery items, including Swiftningshortening, Allsweetmargarine, Brookfieldbutter, cheese under the Brookfield, Pauly, andTreasure Cave brands, andPeter Pan peanut butter. Swift began selling frozen turkeys under theButterball brand in 1954. Gustavus Swift also championed therefrigerated railroad car.
In the 1960s, Swift expanded into other fields, including insurance and petroleum, and formed the holding company Esmark in 1973. Two years later, Esmark boughtInternational Playtex fromMeshulam Riklis' Rapid-American Corporation. Esmark sold offGlobe Life Insurance to the Ryan Insurance Group in 1977.[4]
Esmark left the petroleum business in 1980, sellingVickers Petroleum to Mobil, while Swift's fresh-meat business was spun off as a separate company, Swift Independent Packing Company (SIPCO), the same year.[5] Esmark went on to purchaseNorton Simon Inc. in 1983 before being purchased byBeatrice Foods the next year.ConAgra purchased 50% of SIPCO in 1987 and the remaining portion in 1989, the same year ConAgra bought Beatrice Foods.[6] ConAgra merged SIPCO's operations with that of Monfort, the meatpacker it had purchased in 1987, and the division was renamed Swift & Company in 1995.[6]
In 2002, ConAgra sold a majority stake in Swift & Company toHicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, a Dallas-based private-equity firm, and Booth Creek Management.[7] Hicks, Muse bought the remainder of ConAgra's stake in 2004.[8]
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On July 12, 2007, JBS S.A. purchased Swift & Company for US$1.5-billion in an all-cash transaction, creating the JBS Swift Group and positioning it as the largest beef processor in the world. Prior to the deal, JBS operated 23 plants inBrazil and five inArgentina. As part of the transaction, the Swift companies undertook a series oftender offers and consent solicitations to restructure existing debt.
Following the acquisition, JBS expanded its U.S. operations through a series of additional purchases. In 2008, it acquired the beef operations of Smithfield Foods for $565 million.[9] The same year, it announced plans to acquireNational Beef Packing Company for $560 million, but canceled the purchase after theU.S. Department of Justice raisedantitrust concerns.[10] In 2009, JBS USA acquired a 63% stake in poultry producerPilgrim's Pride.[11] It later increased its ownership share to 75.3%.[citation needed]
In 2009, JBS USA Holdings filed notice with theSEC of its intention to float anIPO, listing 38 subsidiaries. However, the offering was withdrawn afterBDO Seidman LLP, one of the accounting firms involved, filed notice with the SEC that unaudited statements had been submitted without its endorsement.[12]
On October 18, 2012, JBS USA announced it would assume temporary management ofXL Foods' Lakeside beef processing plant inBrooks, Alberta, under a 60-day agreement that included an exclusive purchase option for XL Foods' U.S. and Canada operations. The acquisition was completed in January 2013 and included the Brooks facility, a second beef plant inCalgary, and a feedyard.[13] In July 2015, JBS USA acquired the U.S. pork processing business ofCargill Meat Solutions for $1.45 billion.[14]
In May 2021, JBS S.A. was the target of aransomware cyberattack that temporarily disrupted its meat processing operations across the United States. JBS paid the hackers an $11 million ransom inBitcoin.[15][16]
On December 2, 2010, JBS announced that it would use Arrowsight, a remote video auditing company, to monitor proper sanitation to prevent cross contamination during processing. They also use Arrowsight to monitor their live cattle for properanimal welfare practices. These programs have shown great success.[17]
In July 2018, undercover footage from a Kentucky supplier showed that workers were physically abusing pigs, and that the facility was still usinggestation crates.[18]
In August 2024, the USDA found that JBS was using human-grade antibiotics in beef labelled as free from antibiotics.[19]
In 2019, theCenter for Biological Diversity andFood & Water Watch filed a lawsuit against JBS, claiming that it had been violating theClean Water Act for five years by dumping toxic waste into a Colorado river.[20] In 2020, JBS sought to dismiss the lawsuit, but was blocked by a federal district court.[21]
In March 2021, following evidence from investigative journalistDom Phillips that linked JBS to illegaldeforestation of the Amazon rainforest, JBS pledged to eliminate illegal deforestation from its supply chain by 2030 and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. It was the first global meat company to make such a commitment.[22]
In March 2024,New York Attorney GeneralLetitia James sued JBS USA for violating the state's general business laws on deceptive practices and false advertising, alleging that JBS initiated its "Net Zero by 2040" marketing campaign before even identifying itsScope 3 emissions arising from the full supply chain of meat production.[23] At the 2023Climate Week NYC event,JBS S.A. CEO Gilberto Tomazoni was questioned byNew York Times reporterDavid Gelles over theBetter Business Bureau's determination that JBS' net zero marketing was unsubstantiated, given that the company lacked specific planning to execute on its goal.[24]
On June 24, 2009, the USDA'sFood Safety and Inspection Service announced that JBS Swift Beef Company recalled about 41,280 lb (18,720 kg) of beef products that may have been contaminated withE. coli O157:H7. By June 30, the recall included over 421,000 lb (191,000 kg) of beef.[25] The products were packaged on April 21 and 22, 2009, and were shipped to distributors and retail establishments around the United States.[26]
On December 22, 2010, theGrain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration assessed a $175,000 civil penalty against JBS/Swift for violations of thePackers and Stockyards Act for failing to disclose when missing Fat-O-Meat'er data prevented JBS from calculating the lean percentage of a particular pork carcass or carcasses in a seller's lot, and substituting an undisclosed lean value for carcasses with missing data when calculating carcass-merit payment at some processing plants.[27]
In December 2006, six Swift & Company meat-packing facilities inColorado,Nebraska,Texas,Utah,Iowa, andMinnesota wereraided byUnited States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, resulting in the apprehension of 1,282 undocumented immigrants fromMexico,Guatemala,Honduras,El Salvador,Peru,Laos,Sudan, andEthiopia. Nearly 200 were criminally charged after a ten-month investigation intoidentity theft.[28][29]
On November 4, 2010, theFederal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered JBS Carriers, a subsidiary of JBS, to installelectronic on-board recorders on their trucks after a compliance review found "serious violation" of federalhours of service.[30]
The JBS facility inGreeley, Colorado came into national focus during theCOVID-19 outbreak when at least 50 workers tested positive by April 10, 2020, and two workers died of the disease.[31] By April 14, a third worker died. PresidentDonald Trump referred to the case in the daily White House briefing on April 10.[32] All workers were supposed to be tested during the Easter holidays, with the plant being closed until April 24, 2020. However, all workers were not tested over Easter, and a JBS company spokesman announced that workers would be quarantined.[33] The plant reopened after a 9-day closure.[34] By April 15, 102 workers tested positive for the coronavirus and four died.[35] COVID-19 outbreaks were also detected in six other JBS beef processing plants, inSouderton, Pennsylvania;Plainwell, Michigan;Green Bay, Wisconsin;Cactus, Texas;Grand Island, Nebraska; andHyrum, Utah.[36][37][38]
In 2018, aclass-action lawsuit was filed against JBS, along with other major pork producers including Hormel Foods,Seaboard, Smithfield Foods, and Tyson Foods, accusing the companies ofconspiring to artificially raise the price of pork via the tech platform Agri Stats, forcing consumers and restaurants to pay inflated prices for pork products.[39] In October 2022, JBS agreed to pay $20 million to settle the lawsuit.[39]
In 2022, JBS agreed to a $52.5 million settlement without admission of wrongdoing in a lawsuit brought by grocers and wholesalers, which accused JBS, National Beef, Cargill, and Tyson Foods of working together to drive up the price of beef.[40] In 2024,McDonald's Corporation sued JBS and the same three other companies along with their subsidiaries for allegedprice fixing.[41]
In 2019, theTrump administration allocated $62.4 million to JBS USA from a fund intended to help U.S. farmers affected by thetrade war with China.[42] TheU.S. Department of Agriculture announced a contract the same year to purchase $22.3 million worth of pork from the company. Secretary of AgricultureSonny Perdue and Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions requested theU.S. Department of Justice to investigate a possible case of corruption. There were also indications that JBS benefited from trade tensions with increased sales in China. JBS stated that despite being a foreign company, it supports American farmers by creating job opportunities. In May 2019, RepresentativeRosa DeLauro claimed that President Donald Trump was unaware of the situation.[43][needs update]
In May 2022, theUnited States House Select Oversight Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a report detailing the relationship between theTrump administration and themeat packing industry during theCOVID-19 pandemic. The report describes the CEO of JBS (along with the CEOs of Tyson and Smithfield) asking the secretary of agriculture,Sonny Perdue, about elevating the need for workers to stay present at work, despite the risk of working in close quarters during the pandemic.[44][45]
In January 2025, JBS subsidiary Pilgrim's Pride contributed $5 million to thesecond inauguration of Donald Trump, making it the largest single donor to the inauguration fund.[46] In May 2025, theSecurities and Exchange Commission approved the listing of JBS S.A. on theNew York Stock Exchange.[47] Following the approval, SenatorElizabeth Warren authored a letter to JBS USA and Pilgrim's Pride executives expressing concern that the company donated to the inauguration fund to gain influence over the Trump administration's regulatory decisions.[48]
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