Meat+Poultry - April 2019 - 11

"This is about meeting growing
demand for more transparency about
how food is produced," said Kent
Harrison, vice president of marketing
and premium programs at Tyson Fresh
Meats. "Through DNA TraceBack, we're
providing our retail and foodservice
customers with scientific evidence that
they're getting high-quality, natural
beef from animals raised the way
we promised."

NATIONAL PORK BOARD
PARTNERS ON BLOCKCHAIN
The National Pork Board reached an
agreement with Ripe Technology Inc. to
pilot blockchain technology in the US
pork industry. Through the partnership,
ripe.io will produce an ecosystem
that will allow pork producers to
monitor, evaluate and improve
sustainability practices based on a We
Care framework - six defined ethical
principles guiding the US pork industry.
These principles provide industry
standards in food safety and public
health, animal well-being, protecting
the environment and improving the
quality of life for people in the industry
and their communities.
"The growing demand across the
entire food supply chain - including

end consumers - is to 'Know Your
Food.' The ripe.io platform generates
powerful levels of transparency and
trust by enabling collaboration and
consensus of data and activities
within food systems," said Raja
Ramachandran, co-founder of ripe.io.
"Through blockchain, customers like
the National Pork Board can enable its
organization and members to create
shared, immutable, trusted records
that address critical food issues such
as sustainability, quality, traceability,
waste and fraud."
The National Pork Board plans to
work with ripe.io to demonstrate to
producers the value of responsible
pork supply chain management. The
two groups will combine sustainability
data and activities on the company's
platform. The program should also
help pork producers create a more
sustainable environment and provide
visible data to partners in the system to
ensure valid certifications.

NATIONAL BEEF ACQUIRES
IOWA PREMIUM
National Beef Packing Co., along with
shareholders from Marfrig Global
Foods, announced on March 11 that it
acquired beef processor Iowa Pre-

mium for $150 million. National Beef
said it expects to close the transaction
during the second quarter of 2019.
Iowa Premium was previously owned
by Sysco Holdings.
Marfrig Global Foods, which
acquired a majority stake in National
Beef last June, reported a 51 percent
interest in the transaction, valued at
$76.5 million. "This joint operation with
the other National Beef shareholders
demonstrates our commitment to
sustainable growth and is an opportunity
to increase our participation in the
North America operation," said Eduardo
Miron, CEO of Marfrig Global Foods.
The shares of Iowa Premium
are now part of the National Beef
capital. "The Iowa Premium collective
investment reflects the company's
optimism about the US beef market and
the long-term focus of our partnership
with Marfrig," said Brian Friedman,
president of Jefferies Financial Group
Inc., a partner with a 30 percent stake
in National Beef.
With an annual revenue of
approximately $650 million, Iowa
Premium processes about 1,100 head of
Black Angus cattle per day and employs
800 people at its Tama, Iowa, plant. The
company sells its beef under the brands
Iowa Premium Angus and Est. 8 Angus.

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