Pilgrim’s Pride is converting its big bird plant in Russellville, Alabama, to a no-antibiotics-ever (NAE) plant.
During the company’s second quarter earnings call on July 31, Pilgrim’s Pride Chief Financial Officer Matthew Galvanoni said the conversion is well underway, and that the project should be completed in the first quarter of 2026.
CEO Fabio Sandri said the conversion is being done to meet consumer demand and fill the needs of a key customer.
More than one third of fresh chicken in the United States is sold as NAE or organic, Sandri said, and Pilgrim’s Pride is the industry production leader in the NAE category.
“To further strengthen our competitive advantage and reinforce a leadership position. We have announced the conversion of a big bird plant to support key customer growth to an NAE and veg-fed program in the case ready segment,” Sandri said.
However, Sandri said the company fully intends to continue with big bird production.
“We remain committed to diversification across bird sizes and our ability to capture market upsides in the big bird commodity market. As such, we reviewed our manufacturing footprint analytics, identified opportunities to enhance our mix and unlock additional capacity to meet our growth in demand in that segment. Based on this effort, we can maintain our current portfolio across all bird sizes, further increasing our upside potential by limiting downside risk,” he said.
The update on the Russellville plant conversion came less than a week after Pilgrim’s announced that it will build a prepared foods plant in LaFayette, Georgia. That facility, which will eventually employ about 630 people, and allow further growth of the company’s prepared foods business by expanding brands like Just Bare, Pilgrim’s and Gold Kist.
Pilgrim’s Pride, according to information from the WATTPoultry.com Top Poultry Companies Database, is the second largest poultry producer in the United States, having produced 1.51 billion broilers during the past year. The company operates 26 slaughter plants, 33 hatcheries and 27 feed mills. Pilgrim’s Pride also has operations in Mexico and Europe.
