Meat + Poultry - July 2016 - 12

BUSINESS NOTES

SMITHFIELD FOODS ISSUES FIRST
INSTALLMENT OF 2015 REPORT
Smithfield Foods, Inc., acquired by Hong Kong-based
WH Group Ltd. in 2013, released the first segment of its
2015 Sustainability and Financial report. The June 15
installment, starting with its animal care section, was the
first of its 15th annual report that will be released over
an eight-week period. Smithfield's goal in the segmented
release is better engagement across a broad range of
stakeholders in an easy to access format.
"Animal care has been a focus for us for many years.
However, we have recently refined and increased our
reporting in this area, particularly when it comes to
the topic of antibiotics," Stewart Leeth, vice president
of regulatory affairs and chief sustainability officer for
Smithfield Foods, said in a statement. "To embark on
a well-informed conversation guided by accurate and
useful information, we need others in the industry to join
Smithfield in defining and reporting antibiotics usage."
Smithfield gives an explanation and examples of
"prevention" relative to the use of antibiotics in farm
animals, a new addition to this year's report. The company
uses antibiotics only to reduce disease carriers in the
herd and prevent animals from contracting diseases, thus
lessening potential for additional antibiotic treatment.

Smithfield has committed to animal
well-being through being the first to
commit to providing group housing
for pregnant sows on company-owned
and contract farms.

MEAT+ POULTRY | 07.16 | www.meatpoultry.com

HORMEL FOODS SHOWS
PROGRESS $1B AT A TIME
Hormel Foods Corp., Austin, Minnesota, continues to
make progress toward its goal of generating $3 billion in
sales from products created since 2000. That and other
company successes were noted in the 2015 Hormel Foods
Corporate Responsibility Report issued June 7.
To help drive strategic
innovation, Jeffrey M.
Ettinger, CEO of Hormel, in
2000 launched the Billion
Dollar Challenge, which
was for Hormel Foods
to generate $1 billion in
sales from new products
launched between fiscal
year 2000 and fiscal year
2009. By the end of fiscal
year 2007, Hormel Foods
had more than $1 billion
generated from new
product sales, prompting
the company to set a goal
to achieve $2 billion in sales
by 2012. With that goal also
achieved, the company
now has its sights set on $3

Katrina Brown - Fotolia / Adobe Stock

The report also provides new details on Smithfield's
animal care audit platform developed to give customers
and consumers better knowledge of its responsible
practices. Other company initiatives related to animal
well-being in the report include new details about its
breeding program, a case study on the company's newly
created market for sustainable feed and updates on the
conversion to sow group housing.
Smithfield has committed to animal well-being through:
x Being the first and only company in the industry to
report antibiotics usage since 2007.
x Being the first to commit to providing group housing
for pregnant sows on company-owned and contract farms.
x Being the first pork producer to develop and implement
a comprehensive, systematic animal welfare management
program to monitor and measure animal well-being.
x Ending its use of medically important antibiotics for
growth promotion on company-owned and contract farms.
x Removing ractopamine from feed for all companyowned animals supplied to processing facilities.
Smithfield will publish its Environment, Food Safety
and Quality, Helping Communities and People segments
following the Animal Care Section. The full report will be
available in mid-August.

http://www.meatpoultry.com

Meat + Poultry - July 2016

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