Maple Leaf Foods

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Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSX: MFI) is a major Canadian food processing company.

The company was originally known as Maple Leaf. It was founded in 1927 as a merger of several major Toronto meat packers, most prominently William Davies Company, and was immediately Canada's largest food processor, a title it would hold for the next sixty years. Its main business was pork, and its massive operations processing hogs for export to the United Kingdom helped Toronto earn its nickname "Hogtown." Moving into western Canada it became Canada's largest beef slaughterer. It also moved into other markets producing well known brands such as Squirrel peanut butter and Black Diamond cheese. The company also developed a large bread division, best known for the Dempster's brand, which is Canada's best selling brand of bread, and includes San Francisco-area Grace Baking products.

During the 1980s the company began to suffer. It was purchased by the British Hillsdown Holdings who sold or closed most of its slaughterhouses and merged the firm with Maple Leaf Mills, and renaming it Maple Leaf Foods. These efforts were successful and the company returned to profitability.

After being successfully revived the company was purchased by Wallace McCain, formerly co-CEO of McCain Foods, who had been ousted by his brother and co-owner Harrison McCain, in 1995 along with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. In 2003 the company purchased rival Schneider Foods. The company is also one of Canada's largest agribusinesses, owning poultry and hog farms across the country. The main slaughterhouse is located in Brandon, Manitoba.

[edit] Mitchell's Gourmet Foods

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is the headquarters of Mitchell's Gourmet Foods, formerly known as Intercontinental Packers, which produces the "Olympic Fine Meats" line of products and is one of Canada's largest meat processors, employing more than 1,400 Saskatonians. Originally established in Saskatoon in 1940 by Fred Mendel as Intercontinental Packers the business concentrated on canned meat products sold into the US and bacon for Britain during the war years. In 1998 the family run business changed its name to Mitchell's Gourment Foods. In 1999 an alliance was formed with Schneider Corporation, and eventually the business was sold to Schneider on November 12, 2002. On September 25, 2003, Schneider was acquired by Maple Leaf Foods. Mitchell continues as an independent operating company of Schneider Foods. However, on October 12, 2006, Maple Leaf Foods, owners of Mitchell's, announced it would be closing down its major plant in Saskatoon over the next three years.^[1]

On March 1, 2007 Maple Leaf Foods announced it will cease operations of the cut/kill departments at their Saskatoon slaughter house with the last day of operation being June 1, 2007.