Smithfield Foods Achieves Industry-Leading Animal Care Commitment, Unveils New Virtual Reality Video of its Group Housing Systems

January 24, 2018 — 

Smithfield Foods, Inc. is proud to announce that it has fulfilled its industry-leading commitment of providing group housing systems for pregnant sows on all company-owned farms in the United States. Smithfield also released a 360-degree, virtual reality video that transports viewers to a company sow farm. The video can be viewed at SmithfieldFoods360.com. [Source: Smithfield Foods Press Release, January 8, 2018]

"Smithfield's leadership in animal care is reflected in today's landmark announcement," said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods. "Achieving this goal is a testament to the fact that, at Smithfield, we keep our promises. We stand committed to continue leading the industry in both animal care and transparency."

In 2007, Smithfield became the first company to commit to group housing systems. Since then, the company has invested more than $360 million to complete the transition.

In addition to the efforts on U.S. company-owned farms, Smithfield recommends that all of its contract sow growers in the United States transition to group housing by the end of 2022. Smithfield is providing guidance and expertise to contract growers when requested to help them through the conversion process.

Worldwide, Smithfield has pledged to convert all company sow farms by 2022. Operations in Poland and Romania have already completed their conversions to group housing systems, and Smithfield's joint ventures in Mexico are currently working toward the 2022 goal.

For more information on sow housing at Smithfield, please visit http://www.smithfieldfoods.com/sowhousing.