May 17, 2006

Smithfield pork plants gains USDA approval 

Smithfield Packing Company, is now 100 percent process verified after achieving the USDA Process Verified Programme certification for all three of its pork processing plants.

Two of its plants are in Smithfield, Virginia, and the third is in Tar Heel, North Carolina.

The Process Verified Programme, modeled after the International Organization for Standardization's 9000 quality management and quality assurance standards, ensures retailers and consumers that traceability, animal handling and environmental standards have been met.

To achieve certification, companies must use USDA-approved processes, training, and documentation.

Smithfield developed the programme to assure its customers receive high-quality, source-verified meats, produced in an environmentally safe facility, said Joseph Luter, IV, Smithfield president and chief operating officer, in a news release.

Smithfield's Process Verified Program verifies that animals the company receives can be traced back to the animal's farm of origin. It also requires that suppliers be certified to National Pork Board Pork Quality Assurance III guidelines.

The company also ensured that all three of its processing plants maintain ISO 14001 environmental certification of their Environmental Management System.

Smithfield is the first in its industry to achieve ISO 14001 certification for all its US hog production facilities and pork and beef processing facilities.