SMITHFIELD, Va., May 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced the release of the Environment section of its 17th sustainability report. This section, the second installment in the report, highlights the company's ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its progress toward its 2020 environmental targets. 

"In 2017, we made meaningful progress toward our goal to reduce our environmental impact while meeting the growing global demand for pork," said Stewart Leeth, vice president of regulatory affairs and chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods. "We continue to address environmental concerns through innovation and ongoing improvement which creates value for our stakeholders and supports the communities where our employees live and work."

The report provides detailed information about Smithfield's industry-leading environmental programs and initiatives such as:

• Innovative practices and platforms, including Smithfield Renewables, to help the company achieve its commitment to reducing GHG emissions 25 percent by 2025 throughout its entire supply chain — the first commitment of its kind by a protein company.
   
• Eight certified zero-waste-to-landfill facilities that save the company nearly $273,000 per year, with five more facilities expected to be certified by the end of 2018.
   
• Projects recognized by our internal awards program that reduced water use by more than 86 million gallons and diverted more than 30 million pounds of waste from landfills in 2017. These, along with other environmental achievements, helped Smithfield save an estimated $128 million over the past five years in operating costs.
   
• Eighty third-party awards recognizing environmental sustainability achievements in 2017.

"Reducing our environmental impact requires bold steps and out-of-the-box thinking. Every day, our people are looking for new opportunities, both large and small, that will allow us to improve our own operations and those of our supply chain partners," said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and chief executive officer for Smithfield Foods. "We have and will continue to make meaningful changes that will simultaneously benefit the environment and our business."

As described in the new report, Smithfield's environmental efforts extend throughout its supply chain. This includes the farms that grow feed grain for its hogs, the farming operations that raise the animals, the processing facilities, and finally the transportation network that delivers finished products to retail stores and restaurants. The company works within its supply chain to ensure that the products provided to consumers are high quality and produced in a responsible manner.

"In just six short months, we've made some exciting steps toward achieving our 25 by ‘25 goal through our new Smithfield Renewables platform," said Kraig Westerbeek, senior director of Smithfield Renewables. "From projects on our farms that convert manure to renewable natural gas to those at our facilities that power steam boilers by capturing biogas from wastewater treatment systems, we have much to be proud of and look forward to sharing even more projects in the near future."

The Environment section is the second of a multiphase release of Smithfield's 2017 Sustainability Report, following Animal Care that was released last week. Smithfield will publish its Food Safety and Quality section next, followed by the Helping Communities and People sections, as well as the full report.

To view an introductory video about Smithfield's commitment to the Environment, click here. This new section of the report is now available at smithfieldfoods.com/environment.

About Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including SmithfieldⓇ, EckrichⓇ, Nathan's FamousⓇ, FarmlandⓇ, ArmourⓇ, Farmer JohnⓇ, KretschmarⓇ, John MorrellⓇ, Cook'sⓇ, GwaltneyⓇ, CarandoⓇ, MargheritaⓇ, Curly'sⓇ, Healthy OnesⓇ, MorlinyⓇ, KrakusⓇ and BerlinkiⓇ. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com.

Contact:
Diana Souder
Smithfield Foods, Inc.
(757) 357-1675 
dsouder@smithfield.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/42eff4b0-1c4f-4a55-87ad-cc4412ef407d