Pilgrim's employs about 38,500 people with sales of $7.5 billion in 2011, and has operations in 12 states, Mexico and Puerto Rico. They have the capacity to process about 36 million birds per week resulting in almost 9.5 billion pounds of live chicken annually. [1]
Pilgrim's Pride products are distributed primarily through foodservice and retail outlets.
Pilgrim's traces its origins to a feed store opened in 1946 in Pittsburg, Texas by Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim and his older brother, Aubrey. The brothers were known to give away free chicks with the bags of feed they sold, thereby expanding their business. Bo Pilgrim, wearing traditional Pilgrimdress, with a pet chicken named "Henrietta" under his arm, was featured in Pilgrim's Pride advertisements. Today, Pilgrim's Pride is vertically integrated, meaning the company has its own divisions for every process from "egg to table."
Pilgrim's Pride is a supplier of Kentucky Fried Chicken and was named its "supplier of the year" in 1997. Other customers include Wal-Mart,Publix and Wendy's. Pierce Chicken (formerly of ConAgra Foods and Hester Industries) is a division of Pilgrim's Pride. Pierce Chicken is best known for its brand-name Wing Dings, Wing Zings, and various other prepared food products.
On October 12, 2002, Pilgrim's Pride recalled 27.4 million pounds of sliced deli poultry after finding a strain of Listeria monocytogenes in the drain of one of their facilities. It was the largest food recallin the US at the time. The outbreak killed 7 people, sickened 46, and caused 3 miscarriages. [2] [3] [2]
In May 2004, Pilgrim's Pride experienced an outbreak of avian influenza in Hopkins County in northeast Texas; 24,000 breeder hens were destroyed to contain the outbreak. [4]
On July 20, 2004, PETA released a video showing cruelty to chickens at a Pilgrim's Pride plant in West Virginia.[3] The video showed Pilgrim Pride employees kicking, jumping, throwing, and spitting on live