PASCO — An Eastern Washington cattle supplier may be connected to a $285 million loss reported by Tyson Foods, according to a state cattle alliance.
A single cattle supplier is responsible for the entire loss discovered during an internal audit at the company, according to a Tyson Foods filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
The supplier is accused of misrepresenting how many cattle it bought for the Arkansas-based food company’s beef division.
While the company hasn’t identified the cattle company, the Washington Cow-Calf Producers Alliance claims investigators are looking at a company in Franklin County, according to a Tuesday morning news release.
The cattle alliance was formed about two years ago to represent small, family-owned cow and calf producers in Washington state.
Tyson beef
Tyson’s beef division operates 12 facilities including one in Wallula that was at the center of a COVID-19 outbreak earlier in the year.
That Tyson Fresh Meats plant near Pasco was closed for 12 days after about 12 percent of its workers tested positive and three workers died. In 2019, its facilities processed 155,000 head per week.
The unnamed supplier represents 2 percent of the cattle supplied to the company between the fiscal years of 2017 and 2020.
According to the filing with the federal government, the supplier’s misappropriation of funds caused the company to “overstate live cattle inventory” as part of the company’s financial reports on Oct. 3.
Tyson also expects this will impact the financial statements for the first quarter of the next fiscal year.
Tyson said in the paperwork that it is working with the supplier to get its money back.
Tyson officials said they don’t expect it will impact the company’s future operations.
“Tyson also initiated an investigation by outside advisors to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the misappropriation of company funds,” Gary Mickelson, a Tyson spokesman, told the Herald. “That investigation has found no evidence that Tyson benefited from the supplier’s unlawful conduct.”
After discovering the problem Tyson improved its monitoring of its stock of live cattle, the company said.
