Smithfield Foods Announces Details of Pork Group Restructuring Plan

SMITHFIELD, Va., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Smithfield Foods, Inc.
(NYSE: SFD) today released additional details of a restructuring plan that
will consolidate and streamline the corporate structure and manufacturing
operations of its pork group and make the company more competitive. The plan
will improve operating efficiencies and increase utilization.

Reorganization
As part of the plan, a reorganization will consolidate several business units:

-- John Morrell & Co. and Farmland Foods, Inc. will merge their
respective fresh pork sales groups. Some members of the John Morrell
sales group will be offered positions at Farmland Foods in Kansas
City,
Missouri or elsewhere within the Smithfield Foods organization.

-- Patrick Cudahy, Inc. will become part of the John Morrell Group. Plant
employees will not be impacted at this time.

-- Carando Foods, currently a unit of Farmland Foods, also will become
part
of the John Morrell Group. Employees will not be impacted at this
time.

-- North Side Foods Corp. will become a part of Farmland Foods. Plant
employees will not be impacted at this time.

-- Cumberland Gap Provision Co., a unit of the John Morrell Group, will
become part of The Smithfield Packing Company, Inc. Production from
other Smithfield Packing Company facilities will be transferred to
Cumberland Gap and employment there is expected to increase over time.

Plant Closings
Smithfield Foods will close six plants and transfer production to other
facilities.

Wherever possible, Smithfield Foods will offer transfers to other company
facilities to an undetermined number of employees. The company will work with
employees and union officials, where applicable, to determine what assistance
may be provided to affected employees to find future employment. Potential
options include working and coordinating with area businesses and services to
help find local opportunities for employees as well as coordinating with
unemployment offices to assist employees with claims or job applications.

The company will comply with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act (WARN), including providing a 60-day notification of plant
closures to employees. Under the WARN Act, the company also will notify state
dislocated worker units so that they can promptly offer dislocated worker
assistance. WARN Act notices, where appropriate, are being issued today.

-- The Smithfield Packing Company South facility in Smithfield, Virginia
will be closed. Case ready fresh pork production will be moved to the
adjacent Smithfield North plant and a North Carolina facility,
creating
significant operating efficiencies. Of the 1,375 Smithfield South
employees, 1,035 will be offered transfers; 745 of those employees
will
be offered transfers to move to Smithfield North and the others will
have the opportunity to move to Smithfield Packing Company plants in
North Carolina. The plant is scheduled to close in December.

-- A Plant City, Florida facility producing packaged meats will close in
September, affecting 760 Smithfield Packing Company employees. A
number
of salaried employees will be offered transfers.

-- The Smithfield Packing Company plant in Elon, North Carolina will
close
late in the summer and country ham production there will cease. About
160 employees will be affected.

-- A John Morrell plant in Great Bend, Kansas, with 275 employees, will
close in July. The plant processes fresh pork and smoked meats.

-- Farmland Foods will close its New Riegel, Ohio plant. The plant will
be
shifting spiral ham production to other facilities and closing in
April.
About 230 employees will be affected. The company will offer transfers
to other facilities to some salaried employees.

-- An Armour-Eckrich Meats, LLC packaged meats plant in Hastings,
Nebraska
will close in July, affecting about 370 employees.

"Layoffs and plant closings are difficult but necessary decisions," said C.
Larry Pope, president and chief executive officer. "We know that this will
create adversity for the employees affected and we will work with union
officials and others to determine how we can provide assistance to our
employees to find future employment. Also, we will be transferring many
employees to other plants."

With sales of $12 billion, Smithfield Foods is the leading processor and
marketer of fresh pork and packaged meats in the United States, as well as the
largest producer of hogs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com.

This news release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of
the federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements includes
statements concerning the Company's outlook for the future, as well as other
statements of beliefs, future plans and strategies or anticipated events, and
similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. The
Company's forward-looking information and statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed in, or implied by, the statements. These risks and uncertainties
include the availability and prices of live hogs and cattle, raw materials,
fuel and supplies, food safety, livestock disease, live hog production costs,
product pricing, the competitive environment and related market conditions,
hedging risk, operating efficiencies, changes in interest rate and foreign
currency exchange rates, access to capital, the investment performance of the
Company's pension plan assets and the availability of legislative funding
relief, the cost of compliance with environmental and health standards,
adverse results from on-going litigation, actions of domestic and foreign
governments, labor relations issues, credit exposure to large customers, the
ability to make effective acquisitions and successfully integrate newly
acquired businesses into existing operations and other risks and uncertainties
described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2008 and in
its subsequent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because actual results may
differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. Any
forward-looking statement that the Company makes speaks only as of the date of
such statement, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. Comparisons of results for current and any prior periods
are not intended to express any future trends or indications of future
performance, unless expressed as such, and should only be viewed as historical
data.

SOURCE Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Jerry Hostetter, jerryhostetter@smithfieldfoods.com, or Keira Ullrich,
keiraullrich@smithfieldfoods.com, both of Smithfield Foods, Inc.,
+1-212-758-2100