This Massive American Food Company Is Actually Under Chinese Ownership

You probably know that your favorite food brands are all owned by only a small handful of international corporations, but did you know that one American giant traces its ownership all the way up to China? Most Americans know of Kraft-Heinz, Nestle, or General Mills, which own a huge variety of the smaller brands you buy all the time, like Jell-O, Stouffer's, and Pillsbury. But one name you probably don't know is WH Group. The Chinese multinational is the largest pork company in the world, and it owns another very large name you probably recognize: Smithfield.

Smithfield isn't just a big company by itself — it's the single largest producer of pork in the world, and it controls around 23% of the entire U.S. pork market. The company also owns a huge network of other pork purveyors, including popular hot dog brands Nathan's and Armour and fellow bacon-maker Farmer John. Back in 2013, the huge meat company became the target of the single largest Chinese purchase of an American business. WH Group was already one of the biggest meat producers in China, having grown from a single slaughterhouse that was taken over by the man who would end up buying Smithfield, Wan Long. At the time, China was already the single largest consumer of pork in the world, eating around half the pigs on the planet, and there was a growing demand for even more.

Smithfield was founded in 1936 in its namesake town of Smithfield, Virginia, the site of one of the oldest ham-making traditions in America. After being taken over by the founder's grandson in 1975, the brand expanded into one of the nation's largest meat producers. However, by the 2010s, business was slowing, and Smithfield was laying off workers. Entering the massive Chinese pork market was an opportunity too big to pass up.

There was, of course, backlash to America's largest pork producer being purchased by a Chinese company. People were skeptical of a foreign government controlling a major source of food in the U.S. and worried that American workers would lose jobs. However, the Smithfield CEO at the time assured that WH Group would keep Smithfield based in the U.S. and the Chinese government would not be involved in running the company. WH Group ended up buying Smithfield for $4.7 billion. As of this year, the business is still run out of its Smithfield headquarters, and the bacon brand employs 34,000 people in the United States.

Despite overcoming suspicion at the time, scrutiny of Chinese ownership continued. In 2024, WH Group announced plans to spin off Smithfield and sold some shares back on the U.S. stock market. The hope was that these moves would increase transparency and trust in America. So while Smithfield remains in Chinese hands for now, you never know what international conglomerate could snatch a company up next.