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Eckrich

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File:Logo eckrich.gif

Eckrich is a prepared meat brand owned by Smithfield Foods. It sells smoked sausages, cold cuts, hot dogs, corn dogs, Vienna sausages, breakfast sausages and bacon under the Eckrich brand name.

Eckrich was founded as a local meat market in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1894 by Peter Eckrich, an immigrant from Waldsee, Germany. The firm expanded in the local market, becoming a wholesaler in 1907 and incorporating as Peter Eckrich and Sons in 1925. It closed its last retail operation in 1932 and operated exclusively as a wholesale meat vendor. In 1972, thirty years after Peter Eckrich had died, the firm was purchased by Beatrice Foods, which merged it into its Swift and Sons meat processing division in 1986 as Swift-Eckrich. Beatrice Foods' brands were sold off over the late 1980s, culminating in 1990 with the sale of many of its brands, including Eckrich, to ConAgra. Eckrich was sold by ConAgra to Smithfield Foods on October 2, 2006.