April 30, 2009

Smithfield Foods Inc. stated that it has found no clinical signs or symptoms of the presence of swine flu in the company's swine herd or its employees at its joint ventures in Mexico.

Those operations are cooperating with Mexican officials to assist it in its investigation of the possible sources of the outbreak of the disease and will submit samples from its swine herds to the University of Mexico for testing.

Based on available recent information, Smithfield has no reason to believe that the virus is in any way connected to its operations in Mexico.

The company also noted that its joint ventures in Mexico routinely administer flu virus vaccination to their swine herds and conduct monthly tests for the presence of swine flu.

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) reported that according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Homeland Security, people cannot get the hybrid flu from eating pork or pork products and preliminary investigations have determined that none of the people infected with the hybrid flu had contact with hogs.