The South African Meat Industry Company (SAMIC) proudly announces the launch of its new logo and refreshed corporate identity, marking a significant milestone in its ongoing commitment to excellence and quality assurance within the red meat industry. This redesign, unveiled in March 2025, modernises the iconic symbol while retaining its core identity and values.
Background
The original logo was launched on 10 March 1998, inspired by an ancient Sumerian clay tablet featuring a cow – a symbol central to the meat industry. Encased in a soft oval representing unity and strength, it prominently featured green as its main colour to signify lush pastures essential for livestock.
Redesign overview
The new logo builds upon this legacy by deconstructing key elements from the original design. The cow symbol has been transformed into a more dynamic representation that breaks out of the oval shape. This change signifies movement away from stagnation and embodies SAMIC’s commitment to progressive development. The redesign focuses on modernising while preserving essence. It allows for potential evolution into a typographical logo, reflecting SAMIC’s adaptability in an ever-changing industry landscape. The enduring green remains integral to the design, reinforcing sustainability and connection to nature. A new gold outer ring has been added to represent excellence and uphold SAMIC’s high standards and impeccable industry service for three decades.
Commitment to quality
The newly designed corporate identity, forms part of SAMIC’s renewal strategy to align with the 2030 Red Meat Industry Strategy. The goal is to preserve the strong heritage and credibility built over the past 28 years while introducing new, innovative approaches to better serve this beautiful industry and its stakeholders.
A key pillar of this strategy is the full digital transformation of the organisation. This process began with the complete digitalisation of SAMIC’s background administrative functions, finalised in January 2025. The auditing process is already 33% complete, and we aim to be a fully digital company – incorporating auditing, live data analysis, and reporting – by 2026.
Other strategic initiatives include a revamp of the SAMIC website to also become a portal for information storage and access. The Pretoria office is also undergoing a transformation to become more accessible and functional, ensuring our services and core functions remain relevant to the industry and its stakeholders. This new visual identity reinforces SAMIC’s mission as a leader in quality assurance within South Africa’s red meat industry.
“We are excited about this fresh chapter for SAMIC,” says Tom Westphal, executive director of SAMIC. “Our new logo not only reflects our heritage but also our forward-thinking approach towards ensuring high standards across every aspect of our operations.”
About SAMIC:
SAMIC is an independent third-party company appointed by the Department of Agriculture to oversee meat classification standards across South Africa’s red meat industry in the application of the Agricultural Product Standards Act 119 of 1990. On average, SAMIC conducts over 15 000 audits and inspections per year with a team
of 32 inspectors. Established in 1997 by key role players from various sectors within the red meat industry, SAMIC conducts audits ensuring safety and quality while supporting and driving all initiatives to promote all aspects of quality and safety improvement, to help drive an effective and sustainable meat industry.
