Maple Leaf Foods declares year-end dividend

TSX: MFI
www.mapleleaf.com

TORONTO, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - On October 23, 2008, Maple Leaf
Foods Inc. declared a dividend of $0.04 per share payable on December 31, 2008
to shareholders of record on December 8, 2008. Unless indicated otherwise by
the corporation in writing at or before the time the dividend is paid, each
dividend paid by the Corporation in 2008 or a subsequent year is an eligible
dividend for the purposes of the "Enhanced Dividend Tax Credit System".

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a leading food processing company, headquartered in
Toronto, Canada. The company employs approximately 23,500 people at its
operations across Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom and
Asia. The Company had sales of $5.2 billion in 2007.

SOURCE Maple Leaf Foods Inc.

Lynda Kuhn, Senior Vice-President, Communications & Consumer Relations, (416)
926-2026