| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry |
|
| Predecessors |
|
| Founded | 1988 in South Australia, Australia |
| Founders | Chris Thomas, Bob Rowe |
Key people | Darren Thomas |
| Products | Red meat, potatoes |
| Website |
Thomas Foods International is an Australian family-owned company based in South Australia. It is one of the largest meat processors in the country, and also has vegetable processing and distribution. The chief executive officer is Darren Thomas.
The company is vertically-integrated from a cattle feedlot near Tintinara [1] through processing, chilling or freezing, distribution and sales of meat, seafood and vegetables.
The company was founded as T and R Pastoral by Chris Thomas and Bob Rowe in 1988. The company originally bought livestock and contracted out for meat processing. It bought the Murray Bridge abattoir in 1999 with 230 employees. It bought the Lobethal abattoir in 2003. [2] In 2006, it also bought an abattoir in Western Australia and a defunct one in Port Pirie at which time it was the sixth-largest meat processor in Australia. [3]
The Thomas family took outright ownership in 2008. The company was renamed to Thomas Foods International in 2013. At that time, it was Australia's third-largest red meat processor and largest family-owned processor. It processed 5000 cattle and 120,000 lambs per week at four sites, including one at Wallangarra. [4]
In 2012, Thomas Foods International took up a 50% share in Holco meat storage and distribution. [5] It was Australia's largest exporter of lamb and mutton, to over 80 countries. [6]
The company added one of Australia's largest potato processors, Mondello Farms in 2013. [7] That business was renamed to Thomas Foods International Fresh Produce in 2014. [8] In 2020, the potato processing business was sold to a competitor, Mitolo Family Farms. [9]
A fire at the Murray Bridge abattoir in January 2018 destroyed the meat processing line. [10] Over the following months, production was increased at Lobethal in the Adelaide Hills and at Tamworth in New South Wales, but production was not restarted at closed facilities in Port Pirie or Wallangarra. [11] In June 2019, Thomas Foods International announced that rather than rebuilding at the existing site in Murray Bridge, it would build a replacement on a new site eight kilometres away. [12]
Construction of the new facility at Murray Bridge began in December 2020. [13]
Yeast extracts consist of the cell contents of yeast without the cell walls; they are used as food additives or flavorings, or as nutrients for bacterial culture media. They are often used to create savory flavors and umami taste sensations and can be found in a large variety of packaged food including frozen meals, crackers, snack foods, gravy, stock and more. They are rich in B vitamins. Yeast extracts and fermented foods contain glutamic acid, an amino acid which adds an umami flavor. Glutamic acid is found in meat, cheese, fungi and vegetables—such as broccoli and tomatoes. A number of other substances found in yeast extract provide aromas, some meat-like, when allowed to react under heat.
Australian cuisine is the food and cooking practices of Australia and its inhabitants. Australia has absorbed culinary contributions and adaptations from various cultures around the world, including British, European, Asian and Middle Eastern.
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Wallangarra is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia on the border with New South Wales. In the 2016 census, the locality of Wallangarra had a population of 468 people.
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After World War II, pastoralists from the Western Australian Kimberley region sought to develop the local beef export industry by encouraging infrastructure development there. Three brothers, Gordon, Douglas and Keith Blythe who owned and operated several pastoral leases in the east Kimberley devised an Air Beef Scheme by which a meatworks including an abattoir, carcase freezing facilities and an aerodrome were built at the remote Glenroy Station on the Mount House lease, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Imintji Aboriginal Community near Derby. The scheme operated successfully from 1949 to 1965 and was important for the economic development of the towns of Wyndham and Derby as well as the development of the Kimberley pastoral industry generally.
The Ross River Meatworks Chimney is a heritage-listed abattoir at Stuart Drive, Idalia, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is the 11th tallest structure in Townsville. It was built as part of the Ross River Meatworks in 1891 William McCallum Park and is now a major landmark as part of Fairfield Waters and part of Lancinis Springbank urban village. It was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 14 August 2009.
Pink slime is a meat by-product used as a food additive to ground beef and beef-based processed meats, as a filler, or to reduce the overall fat content of ground beef. As part of the production process, heat and centrifuges remove the fat from the meat in beef trimmings. The resulting paste, without the fat, is exposed to ammonia gas or citric acid to kill bacteria. In 2001, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the product for limited human consumption. The product, when prepared using ammonia gas, is banned for human consumption in the European Union and Canada.
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OSI Group is an American privately owned holding company of meat processors that service the retail and food service industries with international headquarters in Aurora, Illinois. It operates over 65 facilities in 17 countries. Sheldon Lavin was the owner, CEO and chairman until his death in May 2023.
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