Melissa A. Gaither, Vice President Global Communications & Sustainability, Phone: 972-281-4478   Email: mgaither@darlingii.com

Melissa A. Gaither, Vice President Global Communications & Sustainability, Phone: 972-281-4478   Email: mgaither@darlingii.com

There has never been an IPO. In August of 1994, the Company became public by registering stock received by the Company’s previous bondholders in a stock for debt restructuring completed December 1993.

The Company has a 52/53 week fiscal year ending on the Saturday nearest December 31.

Darling does not currently pay a cash dividend.

The process starts with the collection of animal processing by-products (including fat, bones, feathers, offal and other animal by-products).The animal processing by-products are ground and heated to extract water and separate oils and grease from animal tissue as well as to sterilize and make the material suitable as an ingredient for animal feed. The separated oils, tallows, and greases are then centrifuged and /or refined for purity. The remaining solid product is pressed to remove additional oils to create meals. The meal is then sifted through screens and ground further if necessary to produce an appropriately sized protein meal.

Darling has two primary pricing arrangements – formula and non-formula—with its suppliers of poultry, beef, pork, bakery residuals and used cooking oil. Additional information on these pricing arrangements can be found in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “Formula” generally means the material is procured in a way that creates a fixed dollar margin for Darling and therefore is not sensitive to commodity price movements.

• Prices for finished product commodities that the Company produces in North America are reported each business day on the Jacobsen index, an established trading exchange price publisher. Access to the index requires an annual subscription. www.thejacobsen.com
• The Wall Street Journal also posts average pricing for tallow and meat and bone meal and Central Tract corn.

• Tallows will compete with soybean oil and palm oil in animal feeds and oleo chemical products.
• Yellow grease will compete with corn in animal feeds as well as other derived Dry Distillers Grains (DDG) corn oils.
• Meat and Bone Meal will compete with soybean meal and DDG in animal feeds.
• Bakery feeds will compete with corn in animal feeds.

The Company competes with other rendering, restaurant services, and bakery by-product businesses, as well as alternative methods of disposal of animal processing by-products and used restaurant cooking oil such as those provided by trash haulers, waste management companies and bio-diesel companies, as well as the alternative of illegal disposal.

The quantity of raw materials available to the Company is impacted by seasonal factors, including holidays, when raw material volumes decline, and cold weather, which can impact the collection of raw material. In addition, warm weather can adversely affect the quality of raw material processed and the Company’s yield on production due to more rapidly degrading raw materials.

• Darling is subject to the rules and regulations of various federal, state and local governmental agencies, including without limitation, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), State Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Government Regulations

Even though in most states it is illegal to steal inedible grease, and unlawful to transport inedible grease without a license, increased prices for biofuel feed stocks have led to an increase in thefts of recycling equipment and spent cooking oil and grease.

Many of the Company’s markets for restaurant services do indeed use the site where rendering occurs, but it is through a separate processing system. Although different vehicles with different frequencies are used for each business line, shared personnel and wastewater permits create efficiencies.

• Approximately 3.0 million tons of bakery residuals from large commercial bakeries are created annually.
• Bakery residuals consists of overruns, non-spec material, mislabeled packaging of fresh breads, cookies, chips, pastas etc.
• Bakery residuals is collected or delivered to Darling bakery by-product facilities where the moisture and packaging is removed and pelletized, creating a caloric ingredient for animal feed.
• The finished bakery feed, or Cookie Meal®, is 100% formulated with corn and competes with corn for caloric value in animal feeds.

• In September 2009, Darling announced its partnership with a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation to take steps to form a joint venture (“JV”) to build a facility capable of producing more than 9,300 barrels per day, or 137 million gallons per year, of renewable diesel on a site adjacent to Valero’s St. Charles refinery near Norco, LA.
• On January 21, 2011, Darling and Valero formalized its joint venture agreement to form Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC, a 50/50 partnership with Valero. The facility is now capable of processing in excess of 18,000 barrels per day, or 275 million gallons per year of renewable diesel.

• Since renewable diesel uses a hydro treating process which creates a true hydrocarbon, it can be transported via the existing petroleum pipeline system versus biodiesel which has cold flow challenges. Biodiesel must be trucked or railed and requires special tanks at the distributor location.
• Renewable diesel meets diesel fuel quality specifications (D-975) while biodiesel is not a true hydrocarbon and can only be included at a 5% blend into D-975.
• The feedstock for renewable diesel can be animal fats, refined cooking oil (yellow grease), and/ or distilled corn oil which are substantially lower in cost than refined soybean oil used to produce biodiesel.
• Renewable diesel has a higher RIN multiplier value (1.7 x) versus (1.5 x) biodiesel.

Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) are used to track and demonstrate compliance with Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) mandates. A RIN is a 38-digit serial number that is assigned by renewable fuel producers and importers to each gallon/batch of renewable fuel. A RIN encompasses several pieces of information, including company registration ID, Facility registration ID, year of production, batch serial number, batch volume, equivalence value, and renewable type code. A RIN specifies or remains attached to a particular renewable fuel until it is blended into motor vehicle fuel. Subsequently, the RIN can be used to meet compliance, held for future compliance, or sold. Not all fuels are created equally; the RIN values are assigned to qualifying renewable fuels based on energy content. For instance, a gallon of corn ethanol is treated as the base, which has a RIN value of 1.0 on a per-gallon basis. Biodiesel has a RIN value of 1.5 and renewable diesel has a RIN value of 1.7 on a per gallon basis.