Darling Ingredients

Corporate brand

Darling Ingredients is a global ingredients and renewable-energy company that recycles materials from the animal agriculture and food industries into products for food, feed, fertilizers and fuel.

Last updated September 25, 2026

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Overview

Darling Ingredients is a publicly traded U.S. company whose business centers on collecting and repurposing materials from the animal agriculture and food industries. Founded in 1882 as a small Chicago rendering company, it has developed into a global group of businesses and brands. Its stated approach is to recover value from materials that might otherwise be discarded, turning them into ingredients and energy products for a range of commercial uses. The company describes its activities through three operating segments: Feed, Food and Fuel. Feed includes ingredients for animal nutrition, fertilizers and renewable-fuel production. Food includes ingredients intended to support human health and wellbeing, including gelatin- and collagen-based offerings. Fuel encompasses lower-emission energy solutions. The company says its products include livestock, pet and human food ingredients; gelatin and collagen; fats and proteins; fertilizers; and renewable energy and fuels. Its North American rendering operations collect and process animal agriculture and food-industry materials, including used cooking oil, and make ingredients for animal feed, pet food and fertilizers. Some animal fats are supplied as feedstock to renewable-diesel producers for diesel and aviation-fuel production. Darling presents circularity and resource recovery as central to its business: it aims to transform residual materials into useful products rather than treat them as waste. Its family of brands includes businesses serving different regions and markets. Examples identified on the company’s brands page include Rousselot in gelatin and collagen solutions, Sonac in animal by-product processing, DAR PRO Solutions in used-cooking-oil collection, and Ecoson in renewable energy from food and animal waste and fats. Diamond Green Diesel is described as a 50/50 joint venture producing renewable fuels. The company reports that its brands span more than 260 facilities worldwide and transform more than 15 million metric tons of raw material into over 350 sustainable ingredients annually. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DAR. Randall C. Stuewe became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 2003, and the company attributes substantial expansion and transformation to the period under his leadership. Darling’s current public communications emphasize circular-economy solutions, renewable energy, sustainability and value creation.

History

Darling Ingredients traces its origins to 1882, when it began as a small rendering company in Chicago. Rendering and recycling materials from animal agriculture and food production remain central to the company’s identity. Over time, the business expanded beyond its original activity into a broader portfolio of ingredients and energy solutions, using recovered materials to serve food, feed, fertilizer and fuel markets. The company describes its present-day model as circular: it collects and processes materials that might otherwise be discarded, then converts them into useful products. Its activities span animal nutrition ingredients, fats and proteins, fertilizers, gelatin and collagen, and renewable fuels and energy. The company’s three operating segments—Feed, Food and Fuel—reflect these areas of use. Its North American rendering operations, for example, collect and process material from animal agriculture and food industries, separating materials into fats and proteins and producing ingredients for animal feed, pet food and fertilizer. Some fats are also used as renewable-fuel feedstock. Darling has built an international family of brands and businesses, with operations and offerings in North America, Europe, South America, Australia and China identified across its company materials. The portfolio includes businesses focused on rendering and by-product processing, food ingredients, used-cooking-oil collection, and renewable energy. The company identifies Diamond Green Diesel as a 50/50 joint venture producing renewable fuels. Its brands page says the group spans more than 260 facilities worldwide and processes more than 15 million metric tons of raw material into over 350 sustainable ingredients each year. A significant leadership milestone came in 2003, when Randall C. Stuewe became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Darling says the company expanded and transformed under his leadership, with an emphasis on growth and value creation. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as DAR. In its current positioning, Darling links sustainability and profitability, presenting resource recovery and circularity as business strategies as well as environmental aims. Its public communications continue to emphasize converting unused resources into ingredients and renewable energy, while serving customers across food, feed and fuel markets.

2026
Announces share repurchase authorization and production tax-credit sale agreement
2003
Randall C. Stuewe becomes Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
1882
Company founded as a small Chicago rendering company

Products and positioning

A global circular-economy and resource-recovery company that transforms residual materials from animal agriculture and food production into ingredients, fertilizers and lower-emission energy products.

Animal nutrition ingredients
Ingredients produced from recovered animal agriculture and food-industry materials for animal feed and pet food.
Gelatin and collagen solutions
Gelatin- and collagen-based offerings for health, nutrition, biomedical and pharmaceutical applications through the Rousselot brand.
Renewable fuels
Fuel products and feedstocks made from recovered materials, including offerings associated with the Diamond Green Diesel joint venture.

Marketing campaigns

Closing the loop on circularity
Advancing the Circular Economy

Brand decisions

Board refreshes and increases share repurchase program to $1 billionOther
Agreement to sell approximately $150 million of production tax creditsOther

Recent events

2021-05-11
Darling Ingredients raises 2021 EBITDA guidance[6]Darling Ingredients上调2021年EBITDA指引prnewswire.com
Reported: 2021-05-11
Darling Ingredients increased its combined adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2021 to a range of $1.075 billion to $1.150 billion, citing solid performance in its global ingredients business and an improved outlook for Diamond Green Diesel.
Unconfirmed
Darling Ingredients shuts down two biodiesel plants[7]Darling Ingredients关闭两家生物柴油工厂prnewswire.com
Reported: 2021-03-02
Darling Ingredients said it had decided to shut down operations at its biodiesel plants in Montreal, Quebec, and Butler, Kentucky, citing unfavorable biodiesel industry economics and saying it had no current plans to resume production at the facilities.
2020-02-25
Darling Ingredients reports fourth-quarter and fiscal 2019 results[8]Darling Ingredients公布2019年第四季度及全年业绩prnewswire.com
Reported: 2020-02-25
Darling Ingredients reported its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2019 financial results, including fourth-quarter net sales of $859.4 million and full-year net sales of $3.4 billion.

Sources11 sources

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