Suppliers | Pilgrim's Sustainability Report

2020 Key Facts & Figures

>11,500

service providers and vendors

>6,100

livestock and poultry producer partners

>$2B

paid to livestock and poultry producer partners

Aligning to the SDGs

The nature of our business demands we work with a diverse set of suppliers that range from family farm partners who raise our chickens and hogs to large, multinational companies that manufacture and provide services for our production facilities. We work in partnership with over 17,600 suppliers to ensure the highest-quality inputs.

As part of the Pilgrim’s supply chain, our vendors contribute to our overall sustainability. Impacts related to the environmental and social pillars of sustainability differ for each of our unique suppliers based on the material they manufacture or sell, the species of livestock or poultry they raise, and the service they provide. Our ability to directly affect these impacts is often outside of our immediate control; however, we strive to partner with suppliers who share our values to achieve a more sustainable food supply.

As part of our efforts to minimize impacts in the supply chain, we developed a Supplier Code of Conduct. It ensures that suppliers agree to meet or exceed our high standards when conducting business with Pilgrim’s. The code covers human rights, forced labor, freedom of association and collective bargaining, minimum age for employment, equal employment opportunity, employment practices, health and safety, environmental issues and business integrity, which includes anti-corruption and bribery. We have reminded all of our contracted suppliers of our code of conduct and reiterated the importance of compliance.

2020/Goals

Supply Chain

100% of our contracted suppliers agree to our Supplier Code of Conduct. We’re refocusing on this topic in our 2030 sustainability strategy.

Our Commitment

We are committed to continually improving our business, our products and our supply chain. We understand that our responsibility spans beyond production under our direct control and that we must collaborate with our supplier partners to improve the overall sustainability of our supply chain.


Our Management Approach

Procurement for Pilgrim’s is centralized in the U.S. through our JBS USA corporate offices and embedded within Pilgrim’s Mexico, Pilgrim’s Moy Park and Pilgrim’s UK businesses. The Heads of Procurement lead several teams that are each responsible for certain products or services related to production, employee and corporate services, energy, facilities services, capital expenditure and equipment, and maintenance, repair and operations. This structure allows us to maximize our supplier partnerships across the business and ensure consistency and uniformity.

Our approach to managing our supply chain includes consistent collaboration with our suppliers. All suppliers are contractually obligated to follow laws and regulations. We also establish long-term relationships built on trust and shared values that contribute to continued progress both in our sourcing programs and sustainability goals.

Our Supplier Standards

All suppliers providing products or services that have direct contact with food are required to pass the ISNetworld and either the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) or British Retail Consortium (BRC) audits, or an equivalent certification and provide a letter of guarantee. We defer to organizations like GFSI and BRC to evaluate the effectiveness of audits, collect feedback and make related adjustments. The letter of guarantee certifies that the food products are safely produced and are of consistent quality. We also require these suppliers to undergo an additional audit to confirm they have met these requirements.

We evaluate all potential manufacturing suppliers based on several criteria, including compliance, commercial offering, supply flexibility and responsiveness, service, risk management, quality, price, reliability, financial capability, reputation and experience. When assessing new manufacturing suppliers, we prioritize local companies as they are often cost-competitive. Sourcing products, ingredients and services from within our communities helps further supports local economies, and we prefer to work with companies at their local offices, whenever possible.

2020 Progress

We are proud to partner with suppliers to ensure the quality, consistency and safety of our products. In the U.S., and Puerto Rico, we have approximately 4,200 service providers and vendors with the average partnership spanning 12 years. In Mexico, we work with over 2,000 service providers and vendors and our average partnership length is approximately seven years. In Europe, we partner with more approximately 5,000 service providers and vendors for an average of more than seven years.

Where possible, we seek to partner with minority-owned businesses. In 2020, our U.S. and Puerto Rican teams purchased products and services worth more than $153 million from minority-owned businesses.

Percent Purchasing Dollars Spent on Contracts with Minority-Owned Businesses*

*Includes U.S. and Puerto Rican facilities

Our 2020 Stories

Learn more about how our vendors, family farms and ranches are helping us achieve our supply chain goals.

Responsible Marketing Policy

Pilgrim's

Responsible Marketing Policy As consumers increasingly expect transparent and factual information, we are committed to providing our customers and consumers access to the necessary resources to help them make informed purchasing decisions. We proactively engage in continuous dialogue with our customers and consider specific market research so that we can continue to provide relevant, informed…

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Supplier Code of Conduct

Pilgrim's

Pilgrim’s is committed to conducting business ethically, with integrity and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, as well as various international standards including OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Core Conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Pilgrim’s expects Vendors to demonstrate the…

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