SIC 2011 Meat Packing Plants

Encyclopedia of American Industries | 2005 | Copyright

SIC 2011
MEAT PACKING PLANTS

This industry includes establishments primarily engaged in the slaughtering (for their own account or on a contract basis for the trade) of cattle, hogs, sheep, lambs, and calves for meat to be sold or to be used on the same premises in canning, cooking, curing, freezing, and in making sausage, lard, and other products. The industry also includes establishments primarily engaged in slaughtering horses for human consumption. Businesses primarily engaged in slaughtering, dressing, and packing poultry, rabbits, and other small game are classified in SIC 2015: Poultry Slaughtering and Processing. Those primarily engaged in slaughtering and processing animals not for human consumption are classified in SIC 2048: Prepared Feeds and Feed Ingredients for Animals and Fowls, Except Dogs and Cats. Businesses primarily involved in manufacturing sausages and meat specialties from purchased meats are classified in SIC 2013: Sausages and Other Prepared Meat Products.

NAICS Code(s)

311611 (Animal (Except Poultry) Slaughtering)

Industry Snapshot

Meat packing is one of the largest agriculture-based industries in the United States. However, in recent years changing consumer eating habits have impacted the beef and pork industries, which are by far the largest sectors in this industry category. As Americans ate less beef, the beef industry retrenched, eliminating smaller and inefficient plants, and expanding their operations to incorporate poultry products. At the same time, the pork industry was striving to reposition pork as "the meat of choice."

Although technically a "red" meat, it was gaining acceptance as an alternative to the other white meat, chicken.

In 2001 the industry shipped $60.6 billion worth of products, up 3 percent from 2000 and up 12 percent from 1998. Rapid and widespread consolidation within the industry has placed hog and beef meat packing under the control of just a handful of larger players. Operating on very thin margins, processing plants are under constant pressure to keep costs low and volume high.

Organization and Structure

The American Meat Institute (AMI) reported that there were more than 1.25 million livestock operations, raising beef cattle, hogs, and sheep destined for human consumption in the United States in the 1990s. The meat packing plants that processed these animals into food and nonfood products ranged in size from those handling small numbers of livestock to operations processing millions of animals a year. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), federally inspected slaughter and processing plants numbered 930 in 1998.

The dominance of a few major companies is demonstrated by the fact that four packers processed approximately 82 percent of the beef, and three packers processed close to 35 percent of the pork. The USDA reports that in 1998, nearly 35.5 million commercial cattle were slaughtered, representing a 2 percent decrease from 1997. Also in 1998, 101.0 million commercial hogs (an increase of 10 percent) and 3.8 million sheep and lambs (a decrease of 3 percent) were slaughtered.

According to the USDA, the U.S. meat and poultry industry is spread among all 50 states. Industry sources indicate that the Midwestern states raised about 46 percent of the cattle and over 15 percent of the hogs in the 1990s, while south central states raised more than 15 percent of the cattle and nearly 70 percent of the hogs. The top five cattle slaughtering states were Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, and Iowa. Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, and South Dakota led in the slaughter of hogs, according to the USDA. Pennsylvania, which had the largest number of federally inspected plants, representing almost 14 percent of all plants in the United States, ranked only 11th in production.

Background and Development

The colonial farmers of New England, who were the first meat packers in the United States,...

Read all of SIC 2011 Meat Packing Plants at HighBeam Business

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

	Cancer control policy in Australia.(Commentary)(Report) Magazine article from: Australia and New Zealand Health Policy ; ...targets within the cancer control plans have...care, specific cancers, and frameworks...strategic approaches to cancer control, for all cancers, at the national...association of cancer specialists...guidelines for most cancers. Mo
	Ovarian Cancer; Facts to Know.(care and treatment)(Disease/Disorder overview) Newspaper article from: NWHRC Health Center - Ovarian Cancer ; ...according to the American Cancer Society, and about 15...19 percent of ovarian cancers are diagnosed at an early stage, when the cancer is confined to the ovary...National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, http...Uterine & Colon Cancers: Be Aware." National...
	Cancer survival in California farmworkers.(Report) Magazine article from: Migrant Health Newsline ; ...certain types of cancer including leukemia, lymphoma and cancers of the brain...men was prostate cancer followed by lung...colorectal and stomach cancers. These four cancers...frequently diagnosed cancers while colorectal and lung cancer were the third...
	U.S. cancer cases, deaths continue to drop; report says lifestyle changes, better screening and treatment explain decrease.(Report) News Wire article from: Consumer Health News (English) ; ...breast and colon cancers). New diagnoses for all types of cancer in the United States...similar for most cancers, deaths from pancreatic cancer, the fourth most...liver and colorectal cancers were the top three causes of cancer death. For women...
	Cancer Researcher Dr. Daniel Von Hoff Named Honoree of Scottsdale Healthcare Foundation's 34th Honor Ball. Newspaper article from: Cancer Weekly ; ...from the event will benefit cancer research and treatment at Scottsdale...Healthcare's Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center. Dr. Von Hoff is internationally...pancreatic, basal cell and other cancers. His findings have been published...team in the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale ...
	Cancers unrecognized toll: Hours spent being treated Newspaper article from: Oakland Tribune ; ...Lichtenfeld noted: Cancers that often are diagnosed...time. Men with prostate cancer spent 55.3 more hours...without cancer. Breast cancer patients spent 66.2...hospital. Compare that to cancers with worse survival rates...caught late: Ovarian cancer patients struggled the...
	Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation Educates and Celebrates With National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month(TM) Newspaper article from: U.S. Newswire ; ...EDITORS Contact: Jasmine Greenamyer of Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation...number of Americans who died of colorectal cancer dropped significantly for a second straight...diagnosed with the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Of those...
	CANCERS CAN BE PREVENTED.(MAIN) Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY) ; ...Memorial Sloan-Kettering's cancer prevention center will learn that many cancers can, in fact, be prevented...the early signs and symptoms of cancer and they almost certainly will have a cancer screening test, like a colonoscopy...
	CANCER A COMPLEX ENEMY WE'RE WINNING BATTLES, BUT THE WAR ISN'T OVER.(Local) Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY) ; ...failures glare. Lung cancer deaths are increasing among women. Few cancers can be cured when they...late. The overall cancer rate has increased...DIGESTIVE TRACT After cancers of the lung and skin, colorectal cancer is the most common...
	CANCER DETECTION IMPROVING.(Main) Newspaper article from: Albany Times Union (Albany, NY) ; ...Paul Recer Associated Press The breast cancer detection rate among American women...The study, compiled by the National Cancer Institute to reflect rates of incidence and death from all types of cancer, said breast cancer is still the leading...