COMPANY·HISTORIES
NAIC 311119

Other Animal Food Manufacturing

How the companies in this industry began, and the forces that shaped them.

36companies1821–2004founding years36still active0no longer operating
§ 01

The industry over time

Companies foundedEconomyTechnologyEnvironmentHistory
FoundedEridania Béghin-Say S.A.
1821
FoundedHormel Foods Corporation
1891
FoundedIAWS Group plc
1897
1903
TechnologyThe Wright brothers achieve powered flight.
1914
EconomyWorld War I begins; global trade reorders.
FoundedKewpie Kabushiki Kaisha
1919
FoundedArcher-Daniels-Midland Company
1923
FoundedSeaboard Corporation
1928
1929
EconomyThe stock market crashes; the Great Depression spreads worldwide.
FoundedPerdigao SA
1934
FoundedTownsends, Inc.
1937
1939
EconomyWorld War II begins; wartime production surges.
1945
EconomyThe war ends; a long global expansion begins.
FoundedThe Andersons, Inc.
1947
TechnologyThe transistor is invented.
FoundedItoham Foods Inc.
1948
FoundedIndustrias Bachoco, S.A. de C.V.
1952
FoundedCentral Garden & Pet Company
1955
FoundedFoodarama Supermarkets, Inc.
1958
TechnologyThe integrated circuit is demonstrated.
1962
EnvironmentSilent Spring launches the modern environmental movement.
FoundedSadia S.A.
1971
EconomyThe dollar leaves the gold standard; currencies float.
1973
EconomyThe OPEC oil embargo triggers a global shock.
1975
TechnologyThe personal-computer era begins.
1979
EconomyA second oil crisis drives inflation higher worldwide.
1981
TechnologyThe IBM PC launches and sets a standard.
1984
TechnologyApple ships the Macintosh; the GUI era begins.
FoundedRica Foods, Inc.
1986
1987
EconomyBlack Monday: markets fall sharply around the world.
1989
HistoryThe Berlin Wall falls; global markets open up.
1991
TechnologyThe World Wide Web is released to the public.
FoundedColeman Natural Products, Inc.
1993
TechnologyThe Mosaic browser brings the web to everyone.
FoundedMaple Leaf Foods Inc.
1995
TechnologyWindows 95 launches; the internet goes mainstream.
1997
EconomyThe Asian financial crisis rattles global markets.
EnvironmentThe Kyoto Protocol sets the first climate targets.
FoundedCHS Inc.
1998
2000
EconomyThe dot-com bubble bursts.
2004
TechnologySocial media and Web 2.0 take hold.
2007
TechnologyThe iPhone launches the smartphone era.
2008
EconomyThe global financial crisis freezes credit worldwide.
2010
TechnologyCloud computing goes mainstream for business.
2015
EnvironmentThe Paris Agreement sets global climate targets.
2020
EconomyThe COVID-19 pandemic upends the global economy.
2022
EconomyInflation spikes; central banks raise rates sharply.
2023
TechnologyGenerative AI reaches mainstream business use.
§ 02

The companies

Eridania Béghin-Say S.A. →
Active · founded 1821 · France
Eridania Béghin-Say S.A.
LDC →
Active · founded 1869 · France
LDC is now Europe's leading poultry processor after edging out fellow French rival Doux Père Dodu in 2004.
Hormel Foods Corporation →
Active · founded 1891
Early 1940s:Jay and George Hormel found the Hormel Foundation, which would control the company through holdings of its…
Purina Mills, Inc. →
Active · founded 1894
Purina Mills, Inc.
IAWS Group plc →
Active · founded 1897 · Ireland
From its late 19th-century origins in Ireland's cooperative movement, IAWS Group plc has grown into a leading food…
San Miguel Corporation →
Active · founded 1913 · Philippines
Best known for its internationally distributed beer, San Miguel Corporation can only be described in superlatives.
Kewpie Kabushiki Kaisha →
Active · founded 1919 · Japan
Kewpie Kabushiki Kaisha (QP Corporation is its English equivalent name), one of Japan's leading food products…
Charoen Pokphand Group →
Active · founded 1921 · Thailand
Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) is one of Thailand's largest companies and one of the first true Asian multinationals.
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company →
Active · founded 1923
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) is one of the world's leading processors and distributors of agricultural products…
Gold'n Plump Poultry →
Active · founded 1926
Gold'n Plump Poultry is the largest chicken producer in the upper midwestern United States.
Seaboard Corporation →
Active · founded 1928
Seaboard Corporation is a diversified company whose largest business consists of pork production for domestic and…
Molinos Río de la Plata S.A. →
Active · founded 1931 · Argentina
Now a century old, Molinos Río de la Plata S.A.
Perdigao SA →
Active · founded 1934 · Brazil
Brazil's Perdigao SA is the second largest producer of pork and poultry products, behind Sadia, with vertical…
Cargill, Incorporated →
Active · founded 1936
Cargill, Incorporated is the largest private corporation in the United States.
Townsends, Inc. →
Active · founded 1937
Townsends, Inc., is a private, family-owned, Wilmington, Delaware-based poultry company that processes nearly 625…
Foster Poultry Farms →
Active · founded 1939
Long the leading poultry producer in California, Foster Poultry Farms has expanded its operations into Washington and…
The Andersons, Inc. →
Active · founded 1947
The Andersons, Inc.
Tyson Foods, Inc. →
Active · founded 1947
Founded in 1935, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Inc.
Itoham Foods Inc. →
Active · founded 1948 · Japan
Japanese company Itoham Foods Inc.
Vita Plus Corporation →
Active · founded 1948
Computerized formulas, which Vita Plus provided to individual farmers, continued to play a central role in the…
Industrias Bachoco, S.A. de C.V. →
Active · founded 1952 · Mexico
Industrias Bachoco, S.A.
CJ Corporation →
Active · founded 1953 · South Korea
South Korea's largest food manufacturer, CJ Corporation, is also one of the world's leading producers of such food…
Central Garden & Pet Company →
Active · founded 1955
From its position as the largest distributor of lawn and garden and pet supplies in the United States in the late…
Midwest Grain Products, Inc. →
Active · founded 1957
Based in Atchison, Kansas, Midwest Grain Products, Inc.
Foodarama Supermarkets, Inc. →
Active · founded 1958
Foodarama Supermarkets, Inc.
L.D.C. SA →
Active · founded 1968 · France
L.D.C.
Sadia S.A. →
Active · founded 1971 · Brazil
Sadia S.A.
Cranswick plc →
Active · founded 1974 · United Kingdom
England's Cranswick plc has transformed itself from a regional pork and pig feed producer into a diversified company…
Rica Foods, Inc. →
Active · founded 1986
Rica Foods, Inc.
Ridley Corporation Ltd. →
Active · founded 1987 · Australia
Ridley Corporation Ltd.
Coleman Natural Products, Inc. →
Active · founded 1993
Coleman Natural Products, Inc., is the leading U.S.
Nutreco Holding N.V. →
Active · founded 1994 · The Netherlands
Netherlands-based Nutreco Holding N.V.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. →
Active · founded 1995 · Canada
Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
Glanbia plc →
Active · founded 1997 · Ireland
Glanbia plc is Ireland's top dairy foods producer and one of Europe's major dairy food groups, with a significant…
CHS Inc. →
Active · founded 1998
CHS Inc.
Terrena L'Union CANA CAVAL →
Active · founded 2004 · France
Terrena L'Union CANA CAVAL is one of France's top three cooperatives and one of the country's leading agro-industrial…
Build It Today

Starting a other animal food manufacturing company now

Each week we rebuild one of these stories for today's tools and capital.