There is not a single aspect of the Seaboard Triumph Foods (STF) pork processing facility in Sioux City, Iowa, that does not pay attention to detail.

Take, for example, the humane, livestock barn and handling areas approved by Dr. Temple Grandin. Or the interior spaces of the building, linked by more than three miles of an automated conveyor/rail system and coupled with a data collection system that knows the origin (specific farm) and destination of every product it carries from the harvest floor to carcass chilling, then to carcass disassembly, final cuts (cut floor) and finally packing. In addition, robotic systems do precise cutting and trimming more accurately—and safely—than humans. And there’s not a single portion of the hog that’s wasted—“except the squeal,” says Mark Porter, STF chief operating officer.