Smithfield Foods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since March 2007. |
| Smithfield Foods, Inc. | |
 |
|
| Type | Public (NYSE: SFD) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1936 |
| Headquarters | Smithfield, Virginia, USA United States, France, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom; joint ventures in Brazil, Mexico, Spain, China |
| Key people | Joseph W. Luter, III (Chairman), C. Larry Pope (CEO) |
| Industry | Food |
| Products | Meat |
| Revenue | $11 Billion USD |
| Employees | 51,000 |
| Website | [1] |
Smithfield Foods, Inc. is a multinational corporation significant for being the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer. It processes 27 million hogs and raises 14 million annually. In 2006 it produced a total of 5.9 billion pounds of pork and 1.4 billion pounds of fresh beef.[1] Smithfield brands include Smithfield, Butterball, John Morrell, Gwaltney, Patrick Cudahy, Krakus, Cook's Ham, and Stefano’s. Smithfield has operations in 26 states and 9 countries.
Smithfield started as what is now the Smithfield Packing Company, its largest subsidiary, and has grown through the acquisitions of, among others, Farmland Foods and Eckrich. A merger with Premium Standard Farms was agreed upon in September of 2006, but is still pending review by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.[2]
Contents |
[edit] External Recognition
Fortune Magazine has named Smithfield Foods to its annual list of America's Most Admired Companies four years in a row.[3]
London-based FTSE Group recently added Smithfield to its prestigious FTSE4Good Global Index Series of socially responsible companies.
The National Provisioner magazine named Smithfield its 2006 "Meat Processor of the Year."[4]
[edit] Environmental Record
Smithfield has come under criticism for the millions of gallons of fecal matter that it produces and stores in holding ponds, untreated. In North Carolina alone, Smithfield released 4.7 million gallons of hog fecal matter into the state's rivers over a period of four years. Workers and residents near Smithfield plants have reported health problems and have complained about constant, overpowering stench of hog feces.[5]
In 1997, Smithfield was fined $12.6 million for violation of the federal Clean Water Act.[6] The company also received criticism in 1999, when flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd washed 120,000,000 gallons of hog feces out of Smithfield's unprotected "lagoons" and into the rivers of North Carolina.[7] Since that time, Smithfield has gone to great lengths to establish itself as an industry leader in environmental protection.
- In the wake of Hurricane Floyd, Smithfield entered into an agreement in 2000 with North Carolina Attorney General Mike Easley to fund development of environmentally superior waste management technologies for use on North Carolina swine farms. As part of this agreement, Smithfield committed $15 million to fund research at North Carolina State University.[8]
- In 2005, Smithfield announced that all Environmental Management Systems in its U.S.-based hog production, and all its U.S. pork and beef processing facilities (except for recent acquisitions), had been environmentally certified by the International Standards Organization.[9]
- In 2006, the company agreed to adopt new measures to enhance environmental protections at its hog production facilities in North Carolina in a landmark environmental pact with the Waterkeeper Alliance, once one of Smithfield's biggest critics.[10][11]
[edit] Labor Dispute
The Smithfield Packing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina has been the site of an ongoing dispute between the company and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has been trying to organize the plant for over a decade. Employees at the plant voted against the union in 1994 and 1997, but the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) later alleged that unfair election conduct had occurred and ordered a new election.
In 2006, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of the NLRB, and Smithfield agreed to comply with the NLRB's remedies to ensure a fair election.[12] The company has also called on the UFCW to hold a new election and agreed to pay half the cost of an independent observer to ensure a fair election process.[citation needed]
[edit] Sow Crates
In January 2007, Smithfield announced that it is beginning the process of phasing out individual gestation stalls at all of its company-owned sow farms and replacing them with pens—or group housing—over the next 10 years. Many animal rights groups have said that confinement of sows in gestation crates is unneccessarily cruel.
The Humane Society of the United States called the announcement "perhaps the most monumental advance for animal welfare in history of modern American agribusiness."[13]
[edit] Charitable Giving
Established in 2002, the Smithfield-Luter Foundation is a non-profit organization that acts as the philanthropic wing of Smithfield Foods.
[edit] External links
- Smithfield Foods official corporate site
- The Smithfield-Luter Foundation charitable giving foundation
- Smithfield Justice - anti-Smithfield website operated by the United Food and Commerical Workers International Union
[edit] References
- ^ Business Snapshot. Smithfield (2006).
- ^ Smithfield Foods and Premium Standard Farms Certify Substantial Compliance with Second Request. Smithfield (February 5, 2007).
- ^ Most Admired Companies in America 2006. Fortune Magazine (2006).
- ^ Smithfield 2006 Meat Processor of the Year. National Provisioner (2006).
- ^ "Boss Hog". Tietz, Jeff. Rolling Stone. 14 December 2006
- ^ SMITHFIELD FOODS FINED $12.6 MILLION. Environmental Protection Agency (August 8, 1997).
- ^ "Boss Hog". Tietz, Jeff. Rolling Stone. 14 December 2006
- ^ Smithfield Agreement. NCSU College of Agriculture & Life Sciences.
- ^ A Leader in ISO 14001 Certification. Smithfield Foods.
- ^ Testimony of Richard J. Dove, Waterkeeper Alliance. Senate Committee on Government Affairs (2002-03-02).
- ^ Waterkeeper Alliance and Smithfield Foods Reach Agreement on Environmental Pact. Waterkeeper Alliance (January 20, 2006).
- ^ Statement on NLRB decision. Smithfield Packing Co. (June 15, 2006).
- ^ HSUS Praises Smithfield Move to End Confinement of Pigs in Gestation Crates. The Humane Society of the United States (January 25, 2007).
