{{Short description|Northern Irish food company}} {{Infobox company | name = Moy Park | logo = MoyParkLogo.png | type = Private | traded_as = | genre = | founded = | hq_location_city = | hq_location_country = Craigavon, Northern Ireland | num_locations = | area_served = Europe | key_people = Chris Kirke | industry = Food processing | products = Food | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = Pilgrim's Pride<ref name=BT2015-09-29 /> | divisions = | subsidiaries = | slogan = | website = {{URL|www.moypark.com}} | footnotes = | intl = }}
'''Moy Park''' is a Northern Ireland based poultry meat producer, the largest meat producer in Northern Ireland, with operations in the Republic of Ireland, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
One of the 15 biggest food companies in the United Kingdom,<ref name=about>{{cite web | url = http://www.moypark.com/en/about | title = About Moy Park | publisher = Moy Park | access-date = 2016-03-12}}</ref> Moy Park is the largest employer in Northern Ireland, with 6,300 employees, 5,400 in Great Britain, 800 in France, 100 in the Netherlands and around 50 in the Republic of Ireland.<ref name=BT2015-09-29 />
==History== The company was founded in 1943 in the village of Moygashel near Dungannon; it continues to have a factory in Dungannon.<ref name="telegraph_2014">{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11038950/Poultry-giant-Moy-Park-cooking-up-London-flotation.html | title=Poultry giant Moy Park cooking up London flotation |author1=Graham Ruddick |author2=Ashley Armstrong | date=16 August 2014 | access-date=11 September 2017 | newspaper=The Telegraph}}></ref>
In September 2015, the company was sold by one Brazilian food processing company, Marfrig, to another, JBS S.A., for almost £1 billion.<ref name=BT2015-09-29>{{cite news | last = Canning | first = Margaret | title = Moy Park taken over by JBS in Northern Ireland's biggest ever food deal at £988m | newspaper = Belfast Telegraph | date = 2015-09-29 | url = http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/news/moy-park-taken-over-by-jbs-in-northern-irelands-biggest-ever-food-deal-at-988m-31567485.html | access-date = 2016-03-12}}</ref>
A £20 million investment in Moy Park's Dungannon facility was announced in late 2015,<ref name=Agriland>{{cite news | last = Forde | first = Amy | title = Moy Park Dungannon marks 40 years with £20m investment | publisher = AgriLand Media Limited | date = 2015-08-20 | url = http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/moy-park-dungannon-marks-40-years-with-20m-investment/ | access-date = 2016-03-12}}</ref> to increase production to 2.3 million birds per week.<ref name=Agriland /> In March 2016, the company announced it would be investing £4 million at its Seagoe site in Craigavon to increase production of cooked chicken.<ref>{{cite news | title = Moy Park invest £4m in Seagoe factory | newspaper = Portadown Times | date = 2016-03-06 | url = http://www.portadowntimes.co.uk/news/local-news/moy-park-invest-4m-in-seagoe-factory-1-7248691 | access-date = 2016-03-12 | quote = Moy Park are investing £4 million in their facilities at Seagoe Industrial Estate to enhance their ‘ready to eat’ cooked chicken production. }}</ref>
Prior to the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, the company's Chief Executive, Janet McCollum, said that the UK should remain within the European Union.<ref name=BT2016-03-01>{{cite news | last = Canning | first = Margaret | title = Brexit: Europe is our market, insists Moy Park boss | newspaper = Belfast Telegraph | date = 2016-03-01 | url = http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/news/brexit-europe-is-our-market-insists-moy-park-boss-34499671.html | access-date = 2016-03-12}}</ref> The company has used the freedom of movement within the EU to employ over 1,000 workers from countries such as Lithuania, Poland and Portugal at its Northern Ireland facilities.<ref name=BT2016-03-01 /> After the UK voted to leave the EU, the company announced that it planned to move its headquarters to the Republic of Ireland.<ref name="tyrone_times_move_hq">{{cite news | url=http://www.tyronetimes.co.uk/news/dungannon-s-biggest-employer-has-brexit-contigency-plans-including-new-headquarters-in-the-south-1-7464574 | title=Dungannon's biggest employer has Brexit contingency plans including new headquarters in the South | date=6 July 2016 | newspaper=Tyrone Times | access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref>
In September 2017, JBS sold Moy Park to Pilgrim's Pride for £1 billion; JBS owns 79% of Pilgrim's Pride.<ref name="2017_sale_bbc">{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41225537 |title=NI-based poultry firm Moy Park sold for £1bn | author=Julian O'Neill | website=BBC News | date=11 September 2017 | access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref>
==Products== The company supplies supermarkets including Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Ocado,<ref name=BBC48745253/> and fast food restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King.<ref name=BT2015-09-29 /> Brands include:<ref name=about /> *Moy Park Chicken *O'Kane (breaded and ready-to-eat products) *Castle Lea (ready-to-eat products) *Moy Park Foodservice (frozen poultry) *Kitchen Range Foods (frozen desserts, meat-free and gluten-free foods) *Albert Van Zoonen (snack products) *Orléans (meat processing) *McLarnon Feeds (animal feeds)
==Animal Abuse== Moy Park has received media attention for the poor conditions in its farms.
In June 2019, Animal Equality UK stated that after visiting three Moy Park farms in Lincolnshire on multiple occasions between February and April 2019, they had filmed evidence of "extreme suffering". The charity said carcasses were "left to rot for days", and birds were found with severe leg injuries, with some unable to stand.<ref name="BBC48745253">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-48745253|title = Chickens 'left to rot' at major supplier Moy Park's farms|work = BBC News|date = 25 June 2019}}</ref>
In March 2021, Dispatches (TV programme) went undercover at the same site Animal Equality UK investigated 2 years earlier. They found birds with "horrific injuries" and guidance issued to kill chicks deemed "lame" or "too small". Over 4000 chicks died or were culled during the 11 days of filming and farm managers seemed unaware of Red Tractor guidelines regarding investigating excessive deaths.<ref name=C4-72117-001>{{Cite news|url=https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-truth-about-your-chicken-dispatches/on-demand/72117-001|title = The Truth About Your Chicken: Dispatches|work = Channel 4|date = November 2021}}</ref>
In April 2022 activists shot undercover footage inside of a chicken farm operated by Moy Park. The location had been used as a paid promotion for KFC months earlier. Conditions were vastly different than previously pictured with many instances of "severe overcrowding and dead birds".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/12/kfc-faces-backlash-over-misleading-portrayal-of-chicken-farming-niko-omilana|title=FKFC faces backlash over ‘misleading’ portrayal of UK chicken farming|date=April 12, 2022|work=The Guardian}}</ref>
In August 2022, industry whistle-blowers claimed factory farm chickens had "died slowly of heat exhaustion" after inadequate ventilation and cooling during the 2022 United Kingdom heat wave. Moy Park was listed as one of the companies involved. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was "deeply concerned" about the issue and that the sheer scale of the mortalities had prompted an investigation by officials.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/factory-farm-chickens-die-heatwave-b2135519.html|title=‘Carnage’ as millions of factory farm chickens die in sweltering sheds during record heatwave|date=August 3, 2022|work=The Independent}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Brand name poultry meats Category:Food and drink companies of Northern Ireland Category:Food and drink companies of Ireland Category:Meat companies of the United Kingdom Category:Irish brands