Tyson Foods’ operating earning top $1 billion in Q1

https://www.meatingplace.com/Industry/News/Details/97295

• On Thursday, Tyson Foods reported that its first-quarter adjusted operating earnings rose 24 percent to more than $1 billion.
  • The company gave credit to its robust sales of prepared foods and beef businesses for the increase.
• Tyson noted first-quarter net sales of $10.5 billion, down from $10.8 billion for the same period in 2020.
• According to Dean Banks, Tyson’s president and CEO, Tyson’s products are purchased by 81 percent of U.S. households, up 11 percent compared to last year.
• Dean stated that Tyson’s investment in their plant-based protein line has contributed to its increased earnings since those products bring “tremendous value to the customer.”
• Tyson’s beef segment sales were noted at $3.99 billion in the first quarter of 2021, up from $3.84 billion in the year-ago period. Their pork sales accounted for $1.44 billion in the first quarter, up from $1.38 billion in 2020. Chicken sales generated $2.11 billion in this most recent quarter, down marginally from $2.14 billion last year in the same quarter.

Easterday Ranches files bankruptcy after Tyson sues over non-existent cattle

https://www.tsln.com/news/easterday-ranches-files-bankruptcy-after-tyson-lawsuit-over-non-existent-cattle/

• At the end of January, Tyson Fresh meats sued Easterday ranches to recover losses from fictitious cattle sales and feed costs amounting to more than $225 million.
  • Tyson was also hoping to recover 54,000 head of cattle still standing in an Easterday feedlot north of Pasco, Washington.
• The Easterday operation is made up of Easterday Ranches and Easterday Farms.
  • The agricultural operation is one of the largest farming and ranching operations in Washington. It includes thousands of acres of farmland, a dairy and thousands of feeder cattle.
• The Easterday family also owns a Beechcraft King Air 90 airplane, along with a 6,500 square foot airplane hangar at the Pasco airport, according to the Franklin County Assessor’s office.
  • Additionally, in Scottsdale, AZ, the Easterdays own a $1 million 3,594-square-feet second home, according to the Maricopa County Assessor.
• On February 1, just days after Tyson sued Easterday Ranches, the operation filed for chapter 11 bankruptcies in federal court.
• Then on February 8, the farming side of the operation, Easterday Farms, also filed for chapter 11 bankruptcies.
• Over the past decade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Conduct Committee has fined Cody Easterday, president of Easterday Farms twice.
  • In October 2015, he was fined for $20,000.
  • In July 2017, he was fined for $30,000.
• According to Matt Thompson, industry consultant and former feedlot manager, there are huge amounts of money involved in small cattle transactions, but nonetheless, it is difficult to understand how Tyson could have allowed this debacle to happen to one of their larger suppliers, let alone a smaller supplier like Easterday Ranches.
  • Thompson believes that there must be more to the story than what we’re being told.

Raising the steaks: first 3-D printed rib-eye is unveiled

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/09/3d-printed-ribeye-steak-usda-fda/

• On Tuesday, an Israeli company, Aleph Farms, released the first 3-D printed rib-eye steak created from a culture of live animal tissue.
• Aleph Farms’ new 3-D bio-printing technology uses live animal cells instead of plant-based alternatives to generate whole-muscle cuts, which increases the possibilities of alternative meats.
• Other companies are also hustling to join the alternative meat market.
  • San Diego-based BlueNalu, is planning to bring cell-based seafood products to the market in the second half of 2021.
  • Israel-based Future Meat Technologies and Dutch companies Meatable and Mosa Meat plan to have cultivated meat products in the market by 2022 using exclusive methods of growing meat tissues from punch biopsies collected from live or slaughtered animals.
• Despite the effort to increase alternative meat production, the lack of regulatory framework could stand in the way of the market expanding.
  • Here in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has yet to set a date for when it will rule on the fake meat.