"Smithfield Foods, Inc. has promoted Andrea Tucker to plant manager of the company’s Tar Heel facility in North Carolina. The company’s largest facility, Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant is also the largest pork processing operation in the world.



"Tucker, who has more than 20 years of experience with the company, will oversee the complex's planning, organization, cost and continual improvements, focusing on employer of choice cultural enhancements and ensuring the location’s continued leadership in product quality," the Food Manufacturing says.

"After joining Smithfield as an accountant more than two decades ago, Tucker became the company’s first female plant manager in 2019 when she was appointed to oversee its largest bacon processing facility in Wilson, North Carolina. Earlier that year, Tucker received a STEP Ahead Award from The Manufacturing Institute through a program honoring women leaders in manufacturing who make an impact through their advocacy, mentorship, engagement and leadership."

"Smithfield Foods, a subsidiary of WH Group, ranks third among the largest swine processors in the world, so it’s fitting that the company would operate a plant that is up to the task of mass production of pork products. Tar Heel is that facility, and it is recognized as the largest pork processing plant in the world. Erected in 1992 in Tar Heel, NC, the facility spans 985,000 square feet, and each building on the more than 880 acres is strategically situated based on its function in the production system.

"The latest in processing technology is utilized at Tar Heel, from robotic carcass splitters to slicers, vision systems and conveyors. Daily slaughter capacity at the mammoth facility is 35,000 head; annual pounds produced totals 2.08 billion lbs. That daily production is turned into hams, bone-in and boneless loins, butts, picnics, marinated fillets and tenders. Some items are shipped out fresh, while some production is directed to Smithfield’s packaged meats facility in Kinston, NC, and other Smithfield facilities for further processing," the Meat + Poultry says.

"In addition to fresh pork, byproducts are harvested for heparin production by Smithfield BioScience. Smithfield is the No. 1 supplier of Heparin Sodium, an anticoagulant used in kidney dialysis, in the United States. The company also is the only US-based vertically integrated supply chain manufacturing Heparin API, which is used in cardiac surgery, blood transfusions, COVID treatments, medical device coatings and other applications."

"US - Smithfield's facility at Tar Heel is the world's largest pork processing plant and occupies one million square feet. It employs 5,000 people and produces an average of 8 million pounds of meat daily," The Pig Site says.

"From a viewing area inside one large processing room, you stand above a maze of conveyor belts along which workers wield knives. A line of pig mid-sections rolls by. The loins veer off down one line, ribs are cut out by another line of workers, bacon and skin veer off to their own conveyor belts. Cardboard boxes about the size of small jacuzzis are everywhere, being filled with up to 2,000 pounds of meat.

"Every part of the animal is used: the blood is sold to cosmetics companies; the pancreas and pituitary glands are sold for medical uses; and the parts of the pig not for human consumption become dog food. Finding other uses for all parts of the pig lowers the price of bacon and hams."

"Smithfield Foods, Inc., is a pork producer and food-processing company based in Smithfield, Virginia. It operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese-owned conglomerate WH Group.

"Founded in 1936 as the Smithfield Packing Company by Joseph W. Luter and his son, the company is the largest pig and pork producer in the world.[5] In addition to owning over 500 farms in the US, Smithfield contracts with another 2,000 independent farms around the country to raise Smithfield's pigs. Outside the US, the company has facilities in Mexico, Poland, Romania, Germany, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Globally the company employed 50,200 in 2016 and reported an annual revenue of $14 billion. Its 973,000-square-foot meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, was said in 2000 to be the world's largest, slaughtering 32,000 pigs a day.

"Then known as Shuanghui Group, WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion. It was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company to date. The acquisition of Smithfield's 146,000 acres of land made WH Group, headquartered in Luohe, Henan province, one of the largest overseas owners of American farmland." (Wikipedia)

"The largest meat processing plant in the world is located in Tar Heel, North Carolina USA and is owned by Smithfield Foods, Inc. This plant is the size of nearly 100 football fields and is capable of processing 32,000 pigs per day. The plant was originally built in 1992 by the company Murphy Family Ventures and was purchased by Smithfield Foods, Inc. in 2000," the IndexBox.com says.



"The Tar Heel plant is a vertically integrated facility, meaning that all aspects of the production process are included in one location. This includes the slaughtering of the pigs, the processing of the meat, the packaging, and the shipping of the finished product. The facility employs nearly 5,000 people and utilizes state of the art technology to ensure that the plant is efficient and effective.

"The Tar Heel plant is responsible for a significant amount of the pork production in the United States and is a major contributor to the economy of the surrounding area. Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a global company and operates numerous other processing plants throughout the world, but the Tar Heel facility remains the largest."

"Americans eat around 46 lbs of pork per person per year, from around 110 million pigs slaughtered every year. Top-producing states are Iowa, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Illinois," The Center for Land Use Interpretation says.

"The largest pork processor in America–by far–is Smithfield Foods, whose massive plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina is known as “porkopolis.”

"The million square-foot plant, said to be the largest slaughterhouse in the world, is a heavily automated disassembly line, processing up to 32,000 hogs per day. Smithfield Foods was sold in 2013 to the Shuanghi Group of China."

"The world’s largest pork processor is angling for a share of the growing plant-based market. Smithfield just launched a line of plant-based burgers, meatballs, and more under its Pure Farmland brand," The Good Food Institute says.

"According to Smithfield chief commercial officer John Pauley, the new plant-based products will be available in the refrigerated section of major retailers in September. Reuters reports that these include Target, Sprouts, and Kroger. They’ll be available at over 5,000 retail locations come February 2020.

"Smithfield joins Tyson, Perdue, and other major food corporations in expanding into the plant protein market. Perdue has begun to explore the plant-protein market with their Chicken Plus, which blends chickpea protein with conventional chicken meat. Similarly, Tyson recently launched a blended burger as well as their new Raised & Rooted line of meatless nuggets made with pea protein, egg whites, bamboo, and flaxseed.

"Smithfield is jumping in with 100 percent plant-based meat offerings. Pure Farmland is offering eight new soy-based products, from Homestyle Plant-Based Meatballs to Maple Plant-Based Breakfast Patties (with Italian Style and dairy-free parmesan seasonings in between)."

World's largest pork-specific trade show: world record in Des Moines, Iowa

World’s First Museum Dedicated to Canned Meat, world record in Austin, Minnesota

World's Largest Hog Sculpture: world record in Dothan, Alabama

World's Largest Matanza, world record in Belen, New Mexico