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In a first for a large-scale brand in the Australian beef industry, we launched a paddock-to-primals traceability system for our King Island Beef brand as part of the brand relaunch at the end of 2019.

The traceability system links the customers of the brand with the individual farmer that raised the livestock for the specific cut of beef.

At an exclusive field day on King Island in October 2019, cattle producers, suppliers and distributors, and flagship restaurant end-users engaged with the highly-regarded King Island Beef brand were brought together to hear the industry-changing announcement.

With the increasing demand from customers and end-users to understand where their food has come from, JBS Southern Chief Operating Officer Sam McConnell, said the program follows the journey from paddock to plate, connecting consumers with the proud producers of the beef.

“It has been 12 months in the making and will be part of a larger blockchain scheme being implemented by JBS that enables individual primal cuts to be traced back to the producer,” Mr McConnell said.

“We are very excited to implement the innovative system first at our Longford beef facility in Tasmania, where cattle supplied by our King Island producers are processed.

“As the system evolves, it will be rolled out at our Brooklyn plant in Melbourne.”

In the pipeline for the 12 months prior to launch, JBS Southern’s Beef Sales Manager Robert Ryan, was pleased to see the rebrand and launch of the program come to fruition.

“We have re-designed packaging and printed promotional material about the product which will be available in selected flagship restaurants around Australia who have partnered with JBS,” he said.

“The program and relaunched brand enables the customers to tell the story of each individual producer providing the product, as these primal cuts are being bought and served to consumers in their restaurants.