July 23, 2008

Maple Leaf Foods announced that it has begun the formal process of selling its pork processing business located in Burlington, Ontario.

The process will entail a solicitation of interest from potential purchasers, commencing immediately. The company anticipates that the sale process will be completed by the end of 2008.

The 365,000 square foot Burlington facility has a processing capacity of up to 50,000 hogs per week, is located in close proximity to major domestic and US markets, transportation routes, and is licensed to export its pork products to nearly 50 countries worldwide. Maple Leaf has invested significant capital in this location over the past decade to develop a very extensive value-added business serving both domestic and international customers.

The decision to sell this business results from a re-focusing of Maple Leaf's protein operations towards prepared meats, meals and bakery, involving divestiture or exit of several of its primary processing and agriculturally oriented businesses.

Toronto-based Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a leading Canadian food processing company that employs approximately 23,000 people at its operations across Canada and in the US, Europe and Asia. The company had sales of US$5.2 billion in 2007.