Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Subsidiary
Industry Meat processing
Founded Smithfield, Virginia, United States (1936 (1936))
Founder Joseph W. Luter, Sr.
Joseph W. Luter, Jr.
Area served
 Worldwide
Products
  • Meat processing
  • pork products
Production output
  • As of 2006 raised 15 million pigs and produced six billion pounds of pork per year[1]
Revenue DecreaseUS$14.4 billion (2012)[2]
Decrease US$793.8 million (2015)[2]
Decrease US$452.3 million (2015)[2]
Total assets Decrease US$9.9 billion (2015)[2]
Total equity Increase US$4.8 billion (2015)[2]
Number of employees
 50,200 (2016)[2]
Parent Shuanghui Group
Subsidiaries
Website www.smithfieldfoods.com

Smithfield Foods, Inc., is a meat-processing company headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia. Founded in 1936 in the United States, the company runs facilities in Mexico, 10 European countries, and 26 U.S. states, including the world's largest slaughterhouse and meat-processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina.[3] Smithfield Foods was purchased in 2013, for more than its market value, by the Chinese holding company Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd.[4][5] Now known as WH Group, Shuanghui Group is the world's largest pork producer and processor. The purchase of Smithfield Foods was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company as of 2014,[4] and Smithfield's 146,000 acres of farmland made Shuanghui one of the largest overseas owners of U.S. agricultural land.[6] As of 2016 Smithfield had 50,200 employees around the world and an annual revenue of $14 billion.[2]

The company was founded by Joseph W. Luter and his son as the Smithfield Packing Company, now its largest subsidiary. From 1981, it began to purchase companies such as Eckrich; Farmland Foods of Kansas; Gwaltney of Smithfield; John Morrell; Murphy Family Farms of North Carolina; and Premium Standard Farms.[7]:6 The company was able to grow as a result of its highly industrialized pig production, raising the animals using a vertical integration system of production that enables it to control the animals' development from conception to packing. Smithfield and its subsidiaries use large barns, known as concentrated animal feeding operations, in which thousands of animals are confined together.[8]

As of 2006 Smithfield raised 15 million pigs a year and processed 27 million, producing over six billion pounds of pork.[1] It was the top pig-slaughter operation in the United States in 2007, at 114,300 pigs a day, and along with three other companies slaughtered 56 percent of the cattle processed there until it sold its beef group in 2008.[9][lower-alpha 1] Smithfield sells its products under several brand names, including Cook's Ham, Gwaltney, John Morrell, Krakus Ham, Patrick Cudahy, Smithfield, and Stefano's.[10] Kenneth M. Sullivan has been the president and chief executive officer since 2015.[11]

Company profile

History, acquisitions

The company traces its history to 1936, when Joseph W. Luter, Sr. and his son, Joseph W. Luter, Jr., opened the Smithfield Packing Company in Smithfield, Virginia. The latter served as chief executive officer (CEO) until his death in 1962. A grandson, Joseph W. Luter III, joined the company the same year, and in 1966 became chairman and CEO until Smithfield was taken over by Liberty Equities in 1969. The company hired Luter again as CEO in 1975 when it found itself in financial difficulties; his restructuring of the company is credited with its improved performance.[3] His son, Joseph W. Luter IV, became an executive vice president of Smithfield Foods and president of the Smithfield Packing Company, the parent company's largest subsidiary.[10]

Smithfield began to expand in 1981 with its purchase of its main competitor, Gwaltney of Smithfield. This was followed by the acquisition of almost 40 companies in the pork, beef, and livestock industries between 1981 and around 2008.[12] The company Patrick Cudahy was purchased in 1984 and Schluderberg-Kurdle in 1986.[10] In 1992 Smithfield opened the world's largest processing plant, a 973,000-square-foot facility in Tar Heel, North Carolina, which by 2000 could process 32,000 pigs a day.[8]

Smithfield purchased John Morrell & Co in Sioux Falls, SD, in 1995 and Circle Four Farms in 1998. In 1999 it bought two of the largest pig producers in the United States: Carroll's Foods and Murphy Family Farms of North Carolina, at that point the largest producer. According to agricultural researchers Jill Hobbs and Linda Young, Smithfield's purchase of these companies constituted a major structural change in the U.S. pig industry.[13]

Farmland Foods of Kansas City was added in 2003, as were Sara Lee's European Meats, ConAgra Foods Refrigerated Meats, Butterball (the poultry producer), and Premium Standard Farms in 2007.[10][14] The company sold its 49 percent share in Butterball in 2008 for an estimated $175 million.[15] The acquisitions caused concern among regulators in the United States regarding the company's control of the food supply. After Smithfield's purchase of Murphy Family Farms, the Agriculture Department described it as "absurdly big".[8] As of 2006 four companies—Smithfield, Tyson, Swift & Company, and Cargill—were responsible for the production of 70 percent of pork in the United States.[12]

Purchase by Shuanghui Group

On May 29, 2013, Shuanghui Group, also known as the Shineway Group, the largest meat producer in China, announced a purchase of Smithfield Foods, Inc., for $4.72 billion.[16] Shuanghui announced that it would list Smithfield on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after completing the takeover.[17] On September 6, 2013, the U.S. government approved Shuanghui International Holding’s purchase of Smithfield Food, Inc. The deal was valued at approximately $7.1 billion. It was the largest stock acquisition by a Chinese company of an American company.[18]

Employees, brands

As of 2016 Smithfield had 50,200 employees in the United States, Mexico and Europe, and an annual revenue of $14 billion.[2] It raises 15.8 million pigs a year, producing 3.8 billion pounds of fresh pork and 2.7 billion pounds of packaged meat, sold as 50 brands of pork products and 200 other foods.[19] Along with specialty brands such as the Paula Deen Collection and Weight Watchers, the company's 12 core brands are Armour, Carando, Cook's Ham, Curly's Foods, Eckrich, Farmland, Gwaltney, Healthy Ones, John Morrell, Kretschmar, Margherita, and Smithfield.[20] The company also operates The Genuine Smithfield Ham Shoppe and a restaurant, Taste of Smithfield, both in Smithfield, Virginia.[21]

Pig production

Vertical integration and contracts

In 1990 Smithfield began buying hog-farming operations, making it a vertically integrated company. As a result, it was able to expand by over 1,000 percent between 1990 and 2005.[1] Vertical integration allows Smithfield to control every stage of pig production, from conception and birth, to slaughter, processing and packing, a system known as "from squeal to meal" or "from birth to bacon".[8]

In addition the company began contracting farmers who had moved out of tobacco farming, and sent them piglets between eight to ten weeks old to be brought to market weights on diets controlled by Smithfield.[22] Smithfield retained ownership of the pigs. Only farmers able to handle thousands of pigs were contracted, which meant that smaller farms went out of business.[1] In North Carolina, Smithfield's expansion mirrored hog farmers' decline; there were 667,000 hog farms there in 1980 and 67,000 in 2005. When the U.S. government placed restrictions on the company, it moved into Eastern Europe. As a result, in Romania there were 477,030 hog farms in 2003 and 52,100 in 2007. There was a similar decline, by 56 percent between 1996 and 2008, in Poland.[23][24][25]

Joseph W. Luter III said that vertical integration produces "high quality, consistent products with consistent genetics".[8] The company obtained 2,000 pigs and the rights to their genetic lines from Britain's National Pig Development Company in 1990, and used them to create Smithfield Lean Generation Pork, which the American Heart Association certified for its low fat, salt, and cholesterol content.[22][3] According to Luter, it was vertical integration that enabled this.[3]

Housing and lagoons

Smithfield CAFO, Unionville, Missouri, 2013

The pigs are housed together in their thousands in identical barns with metal roofs, known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The floors of the buildings are slatted, allowing waste to be flushed into 30-feet-deep "open-air pits the size of two football fields", according to the Washington Post. These are referred to within the industry as anaerobic lagoon.[26]:2 They dispose of effluent at a low cost, but they require large areas and release odors and methane, a major contributor to greenhouse gas.[27]

Smithfield Foods states that the lagoons contain an impervious liner made to withstand leakage.[26]:2 According to Jeff Tietz in Rolling Stone, the waste—a mixture of excrement, urine, blood, afterbirths, stillborn pigs, drugs and other chemicals—overflows when it rains, and the liners can be punctured by rocks.[1] Smithfield attributes the pink color of the waste to the health of the lagoons, and states that the color is "a sign of bacteria doing what it should be doing. It's indicative of lower odor and lower nutrient content."[28]

Pregnant sows

photograph
Sows used for breeding are confined in 7 ft x 2 ft gestation crates.[29] This image was taken inside a Smithfield facility in Virginia in 2010.

Smithfield said in 2007 that it would phase out gestation crates by 2017,[30] but in 2009 said it would not meet the timeline because of operating losses caused by the recession.[31] In December 2011, however, it returned to its commitment to the 2017 deadline in the U.S.,[32][33] and to doing the same in Europe and Mexico by 2022.[34] Pregnant sows spend most of their lives in these stalls, which are too small to allow them to turn around.[35] When they give birth, they are moved to a farrowing crate for three weeks, then artificially inseminated and placed back into a gestation crate.[36] The practice has led to criticism from animal welfare groups, supermarket chains and McDonald's.[35]

In January 2015 it said that 71.3 percent of pregnant sows on its company-owned farms had been moved into group housing and out of the crates.[37] It did not commit to requiring its contract farms, where almost half its sows live, to phase out the crates.[38][37] In January 2017, the company announced that 87% of sows on company-owned farms were no longer in crates, and that it would require contract farms to phase out crates by 2022.[39]

Environmental and animal welfare record

Emissions

Smithfield has come under criticism for the millions of gallons of untreated fecal matter it produces and stores in the lagoons. In a four-year period in North Carolina in the 1990s, 4.7 million gallons of hog fecal matter were released into the state's rivers. Workers and residents near Smithfield plants reported health problems and complained about the stench of hog feces.[1]

The company was fined $12.6 million in 1997 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 6,900 violations of the Clean Water Act after discharging illegal levels of slaughterhouse waste into the Pagan River in Virginia.[40] Its facilities in North Carolina came under scrutiny in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd flooded lagoons holding fecal matter; many of Smithfield's contract farms were accused of polluting the rivers. Smithfield reached a settlement in 2000 with the state of North Carolina, agreeing to pay the state $50 million over 25 years. The company agreed to donate $1.3 million to clean up; North Carolina State University would receive $15 million to research the treatment of pig waste; and the North Carolina Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation, Ducks Unlimited and the North Carolina Coastal Federation would receive grants.[41][7]:7

According to Ralph Deptolla of Smithfield Foods, the company created new executive positions to monitor the environmental issues, and hired Dennis Treacy, a former director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, as Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer. Treacy had previously been involved in the enforcement efforts against Smithfield. Deptolla writes that Smithfield also created an environmental management system (ESM), launching it in 2001 at its Murphy-Brown facilities.[7]:9

In 2005 the company received ISO 14001 certification from the International Organization for Standardization for its hog production and processing facilities in the U.S., with the exception of new acquisitions, and, in 2009, 14 plants in the U.S. and 21 in Romania received certification.[42] Deptolla writes that 578 Smithfield facilities were ISO 14001-certified as of 2011.[7]:9 In 2006 its hog-production subsidiary Murphy-Brown reached an agreement with the Waterkeeper Alliance, once one of Smithfield's biggest critics, to adopt new measures to enhance environmental protection at the former's facilities in North Carolina.[43][44] In 2009 the company said it had reduced greenhouse gas emissions at its plants by four percent since 2007, its processing emissions per 100 pounds of production by 62 percent, and its first-processing emissions per animal by 41 percent. Smithfield attributed the improvements to the divestiture of the beef group.[45] In 2010 it released its ninth annual Corporate Social Responsibility report, and announced its appointment of a chief sustainability officer and two sustainability committees.[46]

Use of antibiotics

Concerns were raised about the use by the company and its contractors of low doses of antibiotics to promote the pigs' growth, in addition to using antibiotics as part of a treatment regime. The concern was that the antibiotics were harmful to the animals and were contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.[7]:8 Smithfield said in 2005 that it would administer antibiotics only to animals who were sick themselves, or who were in close proximity to sick animals; however, in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations all pigs are in close proximity to each other.[47]

Operations in Mexico

The earliest confirmed case of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) during the 2009 flu pandemic was in a five-year-old boy in La Gloria, Mexico, near several facilities operated by Granjas Carroll de Mexico, a Smithfield Foods subsidiary that processes 1.2 million pigs a year and employs 907 people.[26][48][49][50] This, together with tension between the company and local community over Smithfield's environmental record, prompted several newspapers to link the outbreak to Smithfield's farming practices. According to The Washington Post, over 600 other residents of La Gloria became ill from a respiratory disease in March that year (later thought to be seasonal flu). The Post writes that health officials found no link between the farms and the H1N1 outbreak.[26] Smithfield said that it had found no clinical signs of swine flu in its pigs or employees in Mexico, and had no reason to believe that the outbreak was connected to its Mexican facilities. The company said it routinely administers flu virus vaccine to its swine herds in Mexico and conducts monthly tests to detect the virus.[51]

Residents alleged that the company regularly violates local environmental regulations.[52][53] According to the Washington Post, local farmers had complained for years about headaches from the smell of the pig farms and said that wild dogs had been eating discarded pig carcasses. Smithfield was using biodigesters to convert dead pigs into renewable energy, but residents alleged that they regularly overflowed. Residents also feared that the waste stored in the lagoons would leak into the groundwater.[26]

Packaging reduction

In 2009 Armour-Eckrich introduced smaller crescent-style packaging for its smoked sausages, which reduced the plastic film and corrugated cardboard the company used by over 840,000 pounds per year. In 2010 the John Morrell plant in Sioux Falls, SD, reduced its use of plastic by 40,600 pounds a year, and Farmland Foods reduced the corrugated packaging entering waste streams by over five million pounds a year. Smithfield Packing used 17 percent less plastic for deli meat. The company also eliminated 20,000 pounds of corrugated material a year by using smaller boxes to transport chicken frankfurters to its largest customer.[45]

2010 Humane Society investigation

In December 2010 the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released an undercover video taken by one of its investigators inside a Smithfield Foods facility.[35] The investigator had worked for a month at Murphy-Brown, a Smithfield subsidiary in Waverly, Virginia.[54] The Associated Press (AP) reported that the investigator videotaped 1,000 sows living in gestation crates. According to the AP, the material shows a pig being pulled by the snout, shot in the head with a stun gun, and thrown into a bin while trying to wriggle free. The investigator said he saw sows biting their crates and bleeding; staff jabbing them to make them move; staff tossing piglets into carts; and piglets born prematurely in gestation crates falling through the slats into the manure pits.[55][56] The video won a 2012 Webby Award in the "Public Service and Activism" category.[57]

In response, Smithfield told the AP that it has "zero tolerance for any behavior that does not conform to our established animal well-being procedures".[55] The company asked Temple Grandin, a professor of animal husbandry, to review the footage; she recommended an inspection by animal welfare expert Jennifer Woods.[58][59][60][61][62] Smithfield announced on December 21 that it had fired two workers and their supervisor.[58][63] At the company's invitation, the Virginia state veterinarian Richard Wilkes visited the facility on December 22. He told The Virginian-Pilot that Smithfield had been "very responsive and very responsible in how they've addressed the issues", and that he had not seen "any indication of abuse" of the pigs and was impressed by their demeanor. A Humane Society spokesman said that Smithfield had provided the vet "with a pre-announced, white glove tour".[64]

Working conditions

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a 175-page report in 2005 documenting what it said were unsafe work conditions in the U.S. meat and poultry industry. In particular, the report said, workers make thousands of repetitive motions with knives during each shift, leading to lacerations and repetitive strain injuries. According to HRW, the workers' immigrant status may be exploited to prevent them from making complaints or forming unions. The report cited working conditions in Smithfield Foods as an example.[65][66][7]:8 According to the report, the speed at which the pigs are killed and processed makes the job inherently dangerous for workers. A Smithfield manager testified in 1998, during an unfair labor practices trial, that at the Tar Heel plant in North Carolina it takes between five and ten minutes to slaughter and complete the process of "disassembly" of an animal, including draining, cleaning, and cleaving. One worker told HRW that the disassembly line moves so fast that there is no time to sharpen the knives, which means harder cuts have to be made, with the resultant injuries to workers.[66]:4[67] Similar criticism was made by other groups about Smithfield facilities in Poland and Romania.[7]:8

Union dispute

The Smithfield Packing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, was the site of a long dispute between the company and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), which had tried since the early 1990s to organize the plant's roughly 5,000 hourly workers.[68] Workers voted against the union in 1994 and 1997, but the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleged that unfair election conduct had occurred and ordered a new election. During the 1997 election the company is alleged to have fired workers who supported the union, stationed police at the plant gates, and threatened plant closures. In 2000, according to Human Rights Watch, Smithfield set up its own security force with "special police agency" status under North Carolina law, and in 2003 arrested workers who supported the union.[65]

Smithfield appealed the NLRB's ruling that the 1997 election was invalid, and, in 2006, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of the NLRB.[69] After demonstrations, lockouts, and a shareholder meeting that was disrupted by shareholders supporting the union, the UFCW called for a boycott of Smithfield products. In October 2007, Smithfield countered by filing a federal RICO Act lawsuit against UFCW.[68] In October 2008, the UFCW and Smithfield reached an agreement, under which the union agreed to suspend its boycott campaign in return for the company dropping its RICO lawsuit and allowing another election. In December 2008, workers voted 2,041 to 1,879 in favor of joining the UFCW, bringing the 15-year fight to an end.[70]

Justice Department penalty

In January 2009, Smithfield was assessed a $900,000 penalty by the U.S. Justice Department to settle charges that the company engaged in illegal merger activity during its takeover of Premium Standard Farms LLC in 2006.[71]

Philanthropy

The Smithfield-Luter Foundation, established in 2002, is a non-profit organization that acts as the philanthropic wing of Smithfield Foods, dedicated primarily to providing scholarship opportunities to the children and grandchildren of Smithfield employees. It has given $5 million to Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, to establish the Luter School of Business,[72] and $5 million to the University of Virginia Cancer Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.[73] The Foundation also provides support for its "learners to leaders" programs, begun in 2006, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Denison, Iowa; and Norfolk, Virginia.[74]

Sports sponsorships

In 2012, Smithfield announced a 15-race sponsorship with Richard Petty Motorsports and driver Aric Almirola driving the #43 Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The sponsorship was increased to 30 races beginning in 2014. Smithfield rotates its brands on the car, featuring Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Gwaltney, and Nathan's Famous. It is also the official food of Richmond International Raceway in Henrico County, Virginia about an hour northwest of Smithfield HQ.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The other companies were American Foods Group, Cargill Meat Solutions and XL Beef.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tietz, Jeff. "Boss Hog", Rolling Stone, December 14, 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Smithfield Foods Inc.". Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Turner, Tyya (2007). Vault Guide to the Top Consumer Products Employers. Vault Inc. p. 323. ISBN 978-1581313239.
  4. 1 2 Woodruff, Judy. "Who’s behind the Chinese takeover of world’s biggest pork producer?", PBC Newshour, September 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ Maduri, Frank J. (October 25, 2013). "Outside View: China's ownership of an iconic American food company". UPI.
  6. ↑ Hettinger, Jonathan; Holly, Robert; and Meers, Jelter. "Foreign Investment in U.S. Farmland on the Rise", AgoPro, July 15, 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Deptolla, Ralph (Smithfield Foods). "Smithfield's journey to sustainability: A work in progress", Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 30(6), September/October 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Barboza, David. "Goliath of the Hog World; Fast Rise of Smithfield Foods Makes Regulators Wary", The New York Times, April 7, 2000.
  9. ↑ Seward, Robert A. "Regulations on Meat Hygiene in the USA," in Fidel Toldrá (ed.), Safety of Meat and Processed Meat. Springer, 2009, 650.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "1965–1936"; "2000–1966"; "Present–2010"; "Corporate Officers", Smithfield Foods, undated.
  11. ↑ "Kenneth Marc Sullivan", WH Group Ltd, Bloomberg.
  12. 1 2 Calamuci, Daniel. "Return to the Jungle: The Rise and Fall of Meatpacking Work", New Labor Forum, 17(1), Spring 2008 (pp. 66–77), p. 73. JSTOR 40342745
  13. ↑ Hobbs, Jill E.; Young, Linda M. "Vertical Linkages in Agri-Food Supply Chains in Canada and the United States", Research and Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, June 2001, p. 17.
  14. ↑ Company News: Smithfield in Stock Deal for Tyson's Hog Operations", The New York Times, September 30, 1999.
  15. ↑ Felberbaum, Michael. "Smithfield to sell its stake in Butterball", Associated Press, September 10, 2010.
  16. ↑ Thomas, Denny & Oran, Olivia (29 May 2013). "China's appetite for pork spurs $4.7 billion Smithfield deal". Reuters.
  17. ↑ Saeed Azhar & Stephen Aldred (16 July 2013). "Exclusive: Smithfield's China bidders plan Hong Kong IPO after deal – sources". Reuters.
  18. ↑ Doug Palmer. "U.S. approves Chinese company’s purchase of Smithfield". Politico.com. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  19. ↑ "A Look Back at the Smithfield Foods History"; "Our company", and "Investors", Smithfield Foods, undated.
  20. ↑ "The Brands of Smithfield Foods, Inc. and Our Independent Operating Companies", Smithfield Foods, undated.
  21. ↑ Walzer, Philip. "Pork producer Smithfield Foods to open restaurant", The Virginian-Pilot, July 10, 2012.
  22. 1 2 Horowitz, Roger. Putting Meat on the American Table: Taste, Technology, Transformation. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, p. 134.
  23. ↑ Gisolfi, Monica R. The Takeover: Chicken Farming and the Roots of American Agribusiness. University of Georgia Press, 2017, p. 72.
  24. ↑ Carvajal, Doreen; Castle, Stephen. "A U.S. Hog Giant Transforms Eastern Europe", The New York Times, May 5, 2009.
  25. ↑ Dunn, Elizabeth C. "Standards and Person-Making in East Central Europe", in Aihwa Ong and Stephen J. Collier (eds.), Global Assemblages: Technology, Politics, and Ethics as Anthropological Problems, Wiley-Blackwell, 2005, p. 178.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 Fainaru, Steve. "Mexicans Blame Industrial Hog Farms", The Washington Post, May 10, 2009.
  27. ↑ Massé, D. I.; Massé, L. (2000). "Characterization of wastewater from hog slaughterhouses in Eastern Canada and evaluation of their in-plant wastewater treatment systems" (PDF). Canadian Agricultural Engineering. 42 (3): 139–146.
  28. ↑ "Rolling Stone's 'Bosshog' Article: Fiction vs. Fact", Smithfield Foods, undated.
  29. ↑ Rollin, Bernard E. Farm Animal Welfare: Social, Bioethical, and Research Issues, Iowa State University Press, 1995, p. 76.
  30. ↑ Kaufman, Marc. "Largest Pork Processor to Phase Out Crates", The Washington Post, January 26, 2007.
  31. ↑ Niman, Bill; Hahn Niman, Nicollete. "Looking Out For All Animals", The Atlantic, August 26, 2009.
  32. ↑ Pope, C. Larry (December 17, 2011). "Sow Stall Conversion Process Update". Smithfield Foods. Archived from the original on April 8, 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  33. ↑ Carmen, Tim. "Pork industry gives sows room to move", The Washington Post, May 29, 2012.
  34. ↑ Shapiro, Michael Welles. "Smithfield progresses toward transition away from gestation crates", McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, January 4, 2013.
  35. 1 2 3 Strom, Stephanie. "McDonald's Set to Phase Out Suppliers’ Use of Sow Crates", The New York Times, February 13, 2012.
  36. ↑ Felberbaum, Michael. "Smithfield to stop using gestation crates for pigs", Associated Press, December 8, 2011.
  37. 1 2 Murphy, Ryan. "Smithfield Foods moves to end use of breeding crates on company farms", Daily Press, January 7, 2015.
  38. ↑ Walzer, Philip. "Smithfield continues shift away from 'gestation stalls'", The Virginian-Pilot, January 4, 2013.
  39. ↑ "Smithfield Foods Nears 2017 Goal for Conversion to Group Housing Systems for Pregnant Sows". Smithfield Foods. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017. Retrieved 2017-07-29.
  40. ↑ "Smithfield Foods Fined $12.6 million, Largest Clean Water Act Fine Ever", Environmental Protection Agency, August 8, 1997.
  41. ↑ "Smithfield Foods", lawyersandsettlements.com, March 13, 2007, attributed to ABC News.
  42. ↑ "Smithfield Foods facilities obtain ISO 14001 certification", Reliable Plant, undated.
  43. ↑ "Testimony of Richard J. Dove, Waterkeeper Alliance", Senate Committee on Government Affairs, March 13, 2002.
  44. ↑ "Features: Waterkeeper Alliance and Smithfield Foods Reach Agreement on Environmental Pact", Waterkeeper Alliance, January 20, 2006.
  45. 1 2 "Smithfield Foods CSR Report: Commits to Reduce Energy and Water Use, Solid Waste 10% by 2016", Environmental Leader, July 23, 2010.
  46. ↑ "Smithfield Foods Releases Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report", Smithfield Foods, July 22, 2010.
  47. ↑ Riha, Carol Ann. "Food company aims to curb antibiotic use in pork", Associated Press, April 8, 2005.
  48. ↑ Lacey, Marc. "From Édgar, 5, Coughs Heard Round the World", The New York Times, April 28, 2009.
  49. ↑ Foley, Stephen. "For La Gloria, the stench of blame is from pig factories", The Independent, April 29, 2009.
  50. ↑ Tuckman, Jo. "La Gloria, swine flu's ground zero, is left with legacy of anger", The Guardian, April 23, 2010.
  51. ↑ "Smithfield Foods Says It Found No Evidence of Swine Influenza at Its Mexican Joint Ventures", Smithfield Foods, 2009.
  52. ↑ Tuckman, Jo. "Attention turns to La Gloria in search to determine swine flu source", The Guardian, April 29, 2009.
  53. ↑ Lucas, Caroline. "Swine flu: is intensive pig farming to blame?", The Guardian, April 28, 2009.
  54. ↑ "Humane Society says Smithfield mistreated pigs", Richmond Times-Dispatch, December 16, 2010.
  55. 1 2 "Humane Society Claims Pigs Abused at Va. Farm", Associated Press, December 15, 2010.
  56. ↑ "HSUS Exposes Inhumane Treatment of Pigs at Smithfield", and "Undercover at Smithfield Foods" (video), Humane Society of the United States, December 15, 2010.
  57. ↑ "16th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners", webbyawards.com.
  58. 1 2 "Smithfield fires 3 workers for mistreating pigs", Associated Press, December 21, 2010.
  59. ↑ Smith, Joe. "Smithfield fires three for welfare violations", Feedstuffs, December 22, 2010.
  60. ↑ Responses, Smithfield Foods. Archived January 7, 2011.
  61. ↑ "Letter from Temple Grandin", Smithfield Foods, December 13, 2010.
  62. ↑ "Grandin/Woods Report", Smithfield Foods, December 20, 2010.
  63. ↑ Green, Kristen. "Smithfield Foods fires three workers after pig farm probe", Richmond Times-Dispatch, December 21, 2010.
  64. ↑ Walzer, Philip. "State veterinarian approves Smithfield's pig handling", The Virginian-Pilot, January 10, 2011.
  65. 1 2 "Abuses Against Workers Taint U.S. Meat and Poultry", Human Rights Watch, January 25, 2005.
  66. 1 2 Blood, Sweat and Fear: Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants, Human Rights Watch, January 25, 2005.
  67. ↑ For a Smithfield manager's description of the process, see "Appendix A: The Production Process in Meat and Poultry Plants", Blood, Sweat and Fear, Human Rights Watch, January 25, 2005.
  68. 1 2 Maher, Kris. "Firms Use RICO to Fight Union Tactics," Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2007.
  69. ↑ "Statement on NLRB decision", Smithfield Packing Company, June 15, 2006.
  70. ↑ Greenhouse, Steven. "After 15 Years, North Carolina Plant Unionizes", The New York Times, December 13, 2008.
  71. ↑ "Smithfield Foods Settles Charges Of Pre-Merger Coordination", Dow Jones Newswires, January 21, 2010.
  72. ↑ Luter School of Business, Christopher Newport University.
  73. ↑ Smithfield News, Spring 2006.
  74. ↑ "Effort shapes learners, leaders", Feedstuffs Foodlink, Smithfield-Luter Foundation.

Further reading

External links

Books

  • Eisnitz, Gail A. Slaughterhouse. Prometheus Books, 2006, first published 1997.
  • Evans-Hylton, Patrick. Smithfield: Ham Capital of the World. Arcadia Publishing, 2004.
  • Hahn Niman, Nicolette. Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms. HarperCollins, 2010.
  • Horowitz, Roger. Putting Meat on the American Table: Taste, Technology, Transformation. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.
  • Wise, Steven M. An American Trilogy. Da Capo Press, 2009.

Articles

  • Barnett, Anthony and Khan, Urmee. "'Shocking' farms raise pigs for UK", The Guardian, April 2, 2006.
  • Coppin, Dawn. "Foucauldian Hog Futures: The Birth of Mega-Hog Farms", The Sociological Quarterly, 44(4) (Autumn, 2003), pp. 597–616. JSTOR 4120724
  • Harvard Law Review. "Challenging Concentration of Control in the American Meat Industry", 117(8) (June 2004), pp. 2643–2664. JSTOR 4093409
  • Hayenga, Marvin L. "Cost Structures of Pork Slaughter and Processing Firms: Behavioral and Performance Implications"], Review of Agricultural Economics, 20(2), Autumn–Winter 1998, pp. 574–583. JSTOR 1350009
  • Herbert, Bob. "Where the Hogs Come First", The New York Times, June 15, 2006.
  • Herbert, Bob. "On the Killing Floor", The New York Times, June 19, 2006.
  • Ladd, Anthony E. and Edward, Bob. "Corporate Swine and Capitalist Pigs: A Decade of Environmental Injustice and Protest in North Carolina", Social Justice, 29(3), pp. 26–46. JSTOR 29768134
  • LeDuff, Charlie. "At a Slaughterhouse, Some Things Never Die", The New York Times, June 16, 2000.
  • Reimer, Jeffrey J. "Vertical Integration in the Pork Industry", American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88(1), February 2006, pp. 234–248. JSTOR 3697978
  • Stith, Pat; Warrick, Joby; and Sill, Melanie. "Boss Hog: The power of pork", The News & Observer (Raleigh), February 19, 1995 (this and the following articles on the pig industry in North Carolina won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1996):
  • Wing, Steve et al. "Air Pollution and Odor in Communities near Industrial Swine Operations", Environmental Health Perspectives, 116(10), October 2008, pp. 1362–1368. JSTOR 25071189
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