Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR)
Rendering plants and food ingredients, worldwide. Read October 19, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending January 3, 2026, filed March 3, 2026. Ranked 58 of the 62 Consumer Defensive companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
12%
End of 2028
18%
Employees, annual report
15,000
Leading staffing pattern
Animal Slaughtering and Processing
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
- Now12%
- End of 202717%
- End of 202818%
- End of 203019%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 81%
- Becomes checking a model's work 15%
- Handed over with lighter checks 4%
The filing states 15,000 full-time employees rendering animal by-products into feed, food and fuel ingredients, with no count by segment, so the split follows segment revenue.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 12% now, 17% at the end of 2027, 18% at the end of 2028, 19% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 19% desk work, 7% people work and 74% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 81% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 15% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
15,000 employees as of January 3, 2026 (stated). Not stated; North America is 59% of revenue, Europe 30% and South America 10%.
The filing: “As of January 3, 2026, the Company employed globally approximately 15,000 persons full-time.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Animal Slaughtering and Processing | 65% | Feed Ingredients is 65% of revenue, the rendering of animal by-products and used cooking oil into fats and proteins, which NAICS counts as rendering and meat byproduct processing (311613), read by segment revenue (c) since the filing counts no employees by segment. |
| Other Food Manufacturing | 25% | Food Ingredients is 25% of revenue, gelatin, collagen and natural casings made in food plants, read at other food manufacturing by segment revenue (c). |
| Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing | 10% | Fuel Ingredients is 10% of revenue, the renewable fuel feedstock and biofuel plants, read at petroleum products manufacturing by segment revenue (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: About 15,000 full-time; about 17% of North American employees and about 66% of Darling Ingredients International's employees under collective bargaining agreements; no national or multi-plant union contracts.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Animal Slaughtering and Processing, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Tyson Foods (TSN, 133,000 employees)10% now, 16% by 2028
- Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (PPC, 63,000 employees)9% now, 13% by 2028
- Smithfield Foods, Inc. (SFD, 34,500 employees)9% now, 14% by 2028
- Hormel Foods Corporation (HRL, 20,000 employees)11% now, 16% by 2028
- Seaboard Corporation (SEB, 14,000 employees)15% now, 25% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
15 sentences in the filing name AI. Fifteen sentences, risk factors: threat actors use AI and deepfakes in attacks, and state laws in California, Colorado and Utah increasingly regulate the use of AI in decisions about individuals.
- “Threat actors may gain access to the Company's protected data, information and/or access credentials to initiate cyber-attacks or to sell or expose Company information using various schemes, including social engineering, phishing and/or artificial intelligence ("AI"), including deepfakes, as well as through data breaches, whether intentional or unintentional, including as a result of malicious...”
- “California and other states are also expanding their laws to regulate the use of AI, including when AI is used to make decisions about individuals.”
- “U.S. policymakers and regulators are also increasingly focused on the safe and trustworthy use of AI, with growing state-level adoption of AI-specific legislation, including in states such as Colorado, Utah and California.”
- “In addition, in August 2024, EU Regulation 2024/1689 on AI ("EU AI Act") entered into force, with most rules going into effect in August 2026.”
- “The EU AI Act governs the development and deployment of AI placed on the EU market, used in the EU, or where the output is used or intended to be used within the EU.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20234median 1
- Fiscal 202410median 4
- Fiscal 202515median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-03 | 15,000 | 2026-03-03 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-28 | 15,500 | 2025-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-30 | 15,800 | 2024-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 14,600 | 2023-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2022-01-01 | 9,900 | 2022-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2021-01-02 | 10,000 | 2021-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-28 | 10,100 | 2020-02-25 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-29 | 9,800 | 2019-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-30 | 9,800 | 2018-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 10,000 | 2017-02-28 | 10-K |
| 2016-01-02 | 10,000 | 2016-03-01 | 10-K |
| 2015-01-03 | 10,000 | 2015-03-04 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-28 | 10,000 | 2014-02-26 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-29 | 3,400 | 2013-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2011-12-31 | 3,320 | 2012-02-29 | 10-K |
| 2011-01-01 | 3,330 | 2011-03-02 | 10-K |
| 2010-01-02 | 1,820 | 2010-03-03 | 10-K |
| 2009-01-03 | 1,870 | 2009-03-04 | 10-K |
| 2007-12-29 | 1,880 | 2008-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2006-12-30 | 1,830 | 2007-03-15 | 10-K |
| 2005-12-31 | 1,110 | 2006-03-16 | 10-K |
| 2005-01-01 | 1,150 | 2005-03-17 | 10-K |
| 2004-01-03 | 1,200 | 2004-03-29 | 10-K |
| 2002-12-28 | 1,200 | 2003-03-26 | 10-K |
| 2001-12-29 | 1,270 | 2002-03-15 | 10-K |
| 2000-12-30 | 1,242 | 2001-03-30 | 10-K |
| 2000-01-01 | 1,300 | 2000-03-31 | 10-K |
| 1999-01-02 | 1,400 | 1999-03-31 | 10-K |
| 1998-01-03 | 1,900 | 1998-03-31 | 10-K |
| 1996-12-28 | 1,900 | 1997-03-27 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- No count by segment: the split follows segment revenue (c).
- The U.S. share is not stated; the union shares are stated by region, not for the whole.
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000916540-26-000008, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Darling Ingredients Inc., $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Darling Ingredients Inc.'s working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 12% now and 18% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Darling Ingredients Inc.'s own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Darling Ingredients Inc. employ?
- 15,000 as of January 3, 2026, as its annual report for the period ending January 3, 2026 states.
- What kinds of work make up Darling Ingredients Inc.'s workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 3 industry staffing patterns, the largest Animal Slaughtering and Processing; by those patterns the work is about 19% desk work, 7% people work and 74% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Darling Ingredients Inc.'s annual report say about AI?
- 15 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 4, 10 and 15 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 19, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.