Moy Park subsumed into Pilgrim’s Europe

The main sites traditionally associated with Moy Park in NI have all recently been rebranded as Pilgrim’s Europe.

On enquiry, a company spokesperson has confirmed that the changes have been made on the back of a decision taken by Pilgrim’s Pride in 2024 to bring together its three European companies (Moy Park, Pilgrim’s UK and Pilgrim’s Food Masters) under a single structure.

Prior to that, Craigavon-headquartered Moy Park had operated across nine sites in NI, England and France, employing 8,636 people, mostly in poultry processing.

In 2023, the company reported revenues of £2.03bn and operating profits of over £75m.

Pilgrim’s Pride is a US-based company, which is majority owned by Brazilian food giant, JBS. Moy Park was bought by JBS in 2015, although it was brought under the Pilgrim’s Pride banner in 2017. The president of the Pilgrim’s Europe operation is Brazilian, Ivan Siqueira.

Pilgrim’s accounts

The first accounts for Pilgrim’s Europe show that in 2023 it generated revenues of £4.2bn, with around 20,000 employees across 40 sites located in the UK and Ireland, France and the Netherlands.

The company is the UK’s largest provider of pork and poultry products.

As well as Moy Park, the 40 sites include those previously owned by the UK’s largest pork producer, Tulip. That business was acquired by Pilgrim’s Pride in 2019.

In 2021, Pilgrim’s also confirmed it had bought Kerry Group’s consumer foods meats and meal business, to include brands such as Denny, with the new entity trading as Pilgrim’s Food Masters.

Despite the visible removal of Moy Park branding in NI, the spokesperson for Pilgrim’s Europe said the company remains fully committed to NI and would continue to “build on its heritage, investment and partnership with local farmers”.