April 26, 2007

Smithfield Foods: No hogs from quarantined farms used in production

Smithfield Foods Inc said it has not bought or processed hogs from any farms quarantined by the Food and Drug Administration or the US Department of Agriculture.

The Smithfield, Virginia, fresh pork and processed meat company said its suppliers and the company's Murphy-Brown LLC hog production unit have not found feed ingredients in their swine-feeding systems identified by the FDA to contain melamine.

Melamine is the same chemical linked to pet-food related deaths in the US. The US government has quarantined hogs in California, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Ohio because they may have eaten feed tainted with the chemical.