Earlier this year, Smithfield Foods published its Corporate Social Responsibility Report for 2006-2007. The report highlights a number of recent accomplishments:

• Smithfield enhanced its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) by joining the Chicago Climate Exchange, and has already made significant strides in meeting its goal of cutting GHG emissions in the United States by a minimum of 6 percent by 2010.
• Understanding the importance of developing alternative energy sources, Smithfield created a Bioenergy Task Force to explore alternative energy options. The company is already capturing biogas (methane) from its anaerobic wastewater treatment process and burning it to help power operations at several processing plants. Smithfield also joined the North Carolina Pork Council and Progress Energy in a proposed pilot project to convert methane into electricity on Murphy-Brown farms or other farms in North Carolina. This project is dependent upon the passage of certain enabling legislation in North Carolina.
• To help promote education, the company launched Learners to Leaders, an educational alliance funded by Smithfield Foods and made up of Smithfield’s independent operating companies and local educational partners. This program helps individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds become tomorrow’s leaders. The company also provided support to An Achievable Dream, a program that gives students who are at risk of failure a chance to succeed.
• The Smithfield-Luter Foundation continued its charitable giving through scholarships for employees’ children and grandchildren, and a $5 million gift for cancer research and treatment at the University of Virginia Health System.
• Working with America’s Second Harvest, the country’s largest hunger-relief charity, several of Smithfield’s independent operating companies helped support local food banks.
• In the company’s ongoing commitment to reduce on-the-job injuries as a critical part of maintaining a safe working environment, it launched a new safety management system.

Smithfield Foods is committed to Corporate Social Responsibility, not only because it is the ethical thing to do, but also because it brings value to shareholders, customers, employees and communities. The company is committed to becoming the most trusted leader in the livestock production and meat processing industries. To learn more, click here » .

Smithfield Foods announced this year that it has developed a new Human Rights Policy that spells out the company’s expectations in the area of equal opportunity; health, environment and safety; harassment and violence; rights of employees; and other key topics.

While Smithfield’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics has long protected the rights of its workers, the company developed this new policy to specifically address human rights. The chief objective of the policy is to help ensure fair treatment of all employees throughout the company and all of its subsidiaries. Implementation of the policy will begin this year.

To read our Human Rights Policy, click here ».