HW Greenham’s Tongala beef plant in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley region will provide a service kill for national supermarket retailer, Woolworths from July, it was announced today.

MAP-packaged beef in a Woolworths supermarket in Brisbane

Woolworths’ Greenstock red meat supply chain division had a five-year processing agreement with Teys Australia’s Naracoorte plant in South Australia under a deal struck immediately after previous service kill provider, Thomas Foods Australia’s Murray Bridge plant was burned down by fire in 2018.

The deal with Teys Naracoorte is due to conclude on 30 June.

Greenham has invested heavily in its upgraded Tongala processing facility, as outlined in this story published on Beef Central in October 2023.

“We are excited to partner with Greenham, a sixth-generation Australian family-owned business, and we look forward to building a long and successful relationship with the Greenham team,” a Greenstock spokesperson said in a statement.

“Not only does Greenham’s Tongala facility offer new technology, it also improves Woolworths supply chain efficiency thanks to its close proximity to our secondary processing and retail-ready site at Truganina,” the statement said.

“We thank the Teys Naracoorte and broader Teys team for their collaboration and support as we worked through the needs of both our businesses, and we look forward to our continued partnership with Teys at its Tamworth site.”

Greenstock is  Woolworths’ end-to-end red meat supply chain business, supplying fresh meat to Woolworths supermarkets, food services and export channels.

Greenstock gave notice to its current processing partner, Teys Naracoorte, 12 months ago, to ensure that the transition could be managed with minimal impact to its business.

Greenstock will continue to source livestock from the same regions, simply moving the site for processing through this change, the company said.

Forward contracts for the first delivery of cattle after the processing transition to Tongala are yet to be issued, providing time for suppliers to take the upcoming change into account when entering into these agreements.

Teys Australia chief executive Brad Teys said his company was proud to have been able to step in to process cattle for Woolworths on five days’ notice, following the fire at Murray Bridge.

He said the parting at Naracoorte was amicable, and Teys would continue to process for Woolworths at its Tamworth facility in NSW.

“Greenstock remains deeply engaged with Teys, with a significant quantity of its beef processing going through the Teys Tamworth abattoir,” the Greenstock statement said.

“Greenstock is committed to continuing to invest in the partnership with Teys, through service and supplementary raw material, cooked value-added products and export beef and offal sales.”

A range of factors were considered for Greenstock’s processing requirements in the region through a competitive Expressions of Interest process.