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ConAgra

==

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/fast-food-nation-part-two-meat-and-potatoes-19981126

...

The same production system that enabled meatpacking companies to get rid of their union workers allowed supermarket chains and wholesalers to fire their skilled, highly paid butchers. More and more beef processing took place within slaughterhouses. Grinders were installed to make hamburger meat. And the growing purchasing power of the supermarket chains and the fast-food chains encouraged concentration in the meatpacking industry. In 1968, McDonald's bought ground beef from 175 local suppliers around the country; a few years later, seeking to achieve uniformity as it expanded, McDonald's reduced the number of its beef suppliers to five. Rival meatpackers joined forces to cut costs and wipe out their competition. In 1918, the five largest meatpackers controlled fifty-five percent of the American market. President Woodrow Wilson's administration curtailed the power of these companies, known as the Beef Trust, using a consent decree. In 1977, the four largest meatpacking companies controlled only twenty-five percent of the market. By the end of the 1980s, however, three multinational corporations controlled more than seventy percent of the beef slaughter in the United States – the greatest degree of market concentration in the beef industry since record-keeping began in the late nineteenth century. The Justice Department during the Reagan administration did not oppose the disappearance of hundreds of small meatpacking firms. On the contrary, the Justice Department opposed using antitrust laws to stop the giant meatpackers.

In 1983, Monfort sued Excel – the nation's second-largest beef processor, owned by Cargill – to prevent it from acquiring Spencer Beef, the nation's third-largest beef processor. Lawyers for Monfort argued that the acquisition would allow Excel to engage in predatory pricing and to reduce competition. A panel of federal judges ruled in favor of Monfort, but Excel appealed their decision to the U.S. supreme Court. Reagan's Justice Department submitted a brief in the case, arguing on behalf of Excel, claiming it had every right to buy a rival company. In 1986, the Supreme Court approved the merger of America's second- and third-largest meatpacking companies. The following year, Monfort gave up its independence and agreed to a takeover by the ConAgra Corp. "It seemed to me that if the industry was going to be concentrated," Ken Monfort said, explaining the sale of the company founded by his father, "there should be at least three large players instead of just two."

By purchasing Monfort, ConAgra became the largest meatpacker in the world. It is now the biggest food company in the United States. In addition to being the top producer of french fries, ConAgra is the largest manufacturer of frozen food, the largest sheep processor and turkey processor, the largest flour miller, the largest distributor of agricultural chemicals, the third-largest pork processor, as well as a leading chicken processor, seed producer, feed producer and commodity-futures trader. ConAgra sells its food under dozens of retail brand names, including Hunt's,Chun King, Swiss Miss,Orville Redenbacher's, Reddi-wip, Knott's Berry Farm and Healthy Choice. Twenty years ago, ConAgra – a combination of two Latin words whose intended meaning is "partnership with the land" – was an obscure Nebraska flour company with annual revenues of less than $600 million. Last year, ConAgra's revenues were nearly $24 billion. The company's phenomenal growth in the 1980s was driven by a vow to increase its earnings per share by at least fourteen percent every year. Top managers who fail to reach their targeted profit levels are often fired. The workers at ConAgra plants are viewed as being equally expendable. In April 1996, ConAgra closed a meatpacking plant in Des Moines, terminating the employment of 1,322 workers with just a day's notice. ConAgra's president once sought changes in the Nebraska tax code by warning the state legislature, "Some Friday night we (may) turn out the lights, click, click... back up the trucks, and we'll be gone by Monday morning."

The unprecedented degree of concentration in the meatpacking industry has helped depress the prices that ranchers receive for their cattle. In the last two decades, the rancher's share of every retail dollar spent on beef has fallen from sixty-four cents to forty-nine cents. "If ConAgra's my only buyer," asked Dave Carter, head of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, "and on the day I need to be selling, they're not buying, what kind of a market is that?" A 1996 United States Department of Agriculture investigation of packer concentration found that many ranchers were afraid to testify against the meatpacking companies, fearing retaliation and "economic ruin." The four largest meat-packers now control perhaps twenty percent of the live cattle in the United States. When the price of cattle starts to rise, the meatpacking companies can flood the market with their own animals, driving the prices down. They can also obtain cattle through confidential agreements with large producers, never revealing the true prices being paid. "A free market requires many buyers as well as many sellers, all with equal access to accurate information, all entitled to trade on the same terms and none with a big enough share of the market to influence price," a report by Nebraska's Center for Rural Affairs concluded. "Nothing close to those conditions now exists in the cattle market."...

===

ConAgra (ConAgra Foods) is a major food producer in the U.S., headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. It retails a large variety of shelf-stable, frozen, and refrigerated foods. It is also a large foodservice supplier, selling wholesale to restaurants.

[1]

ConAgra's long list of brands includes Chef Boyardee, DAVID Seeds, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice frozen meals, Hebrew National hot dogs, Hunt's ketchup, Kid Cuisine frozen meals, Marie Callender frozen meals, Orville Redenbacher's pop corn, PAM no-stick spray, Reddi-wip, and Slim Jim.

Other brands are ACT II pop corn, Banquet frozen meals, Blue Bonnet, Fleischmann's and Parkay margarines, Jiffy Pop pop corn, La Choy, Libby's, Manwich, Peter Pan peanut butter, Van Camp's, and more. [2]

Contents[hide]

Involvement with the Toxic Sludge Industry

ConAgra funds such companies as Changing World Technologies, which in turn funds such companies as Enertech Environmental (to the tune of $42 million), a "waste conversion startup that makes biofuel from biosolids."[3] According to another source, "ConAgra Foods has a minority interest in the Changing World company."[4]

Toxic Sludge Gasification Controversy

"Biosolids" is a euphemistic PR term for Toxic sludge. EPA whistleblower Hugh Kaufman has called gasification, or using sludge to generate methanol or energy, the "most environmentally sound approach, but also the most expensive," to sludge disposal. However, anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, while it reduces the volume of the sludge and heats it to a temperature that kills many pathogens, still leaves behind what the industry calls "digestate" or, more specifically in this case, "biosolids." These "Class A Biosolids" (so-called because the Environmental Protection Agency has stricter limits on pathogens and "vector attraction" for Class A than for Class B Biosolids, i.e. they must not attract disease-carrying insects or rodents, etc.) still contain other sludge contaminants, including Dioxins and Furans, Flame Retardants, Metals, Organochlorine Pesticides, 1,2-Dibromo-3-Chloropropane (DBCP), Naphthalene, Triclosan, Nonylphenols, Phthalates, Nanosilver, and thousands more substances.

The EPA's 2009 Targeted National Sewage Sludge Survey (TNSSS) concluded that all sewage sludge, Class A, Class B or otherwise, contains toxic and hazardous materials, including large numbers of endocrine disruptors. The TNSSS results are described in two EPA reports published in 2009. EPA found that dozens of hazardous materials, not regulated and not required to be tested for, have been documented in each and every one of the sludge samples EPA took around the USA.[5] And yet Class A "Biosolids" may be applied to cropland with no restrictions and sold or given away to gardeners as "organic fertilizers," and hundreds of municipalities and companies do so.

Participant at 2011 BioCycle 11th Annual Conference on "Renewable Energy from Organics Recycling"

ConAgra Foods' Kate Johnson was a participant in the 2011 BioCycle 11th Annual Conference on "Renewable Energy from Organics Recycling." BioCycle Magazine is a publication serving the interests of the sewage sludge industry.[6]

Political contributions

ConAgra gave $113,000 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 16% to Democrats and 84% to Republicans. [7]

Lobbying

The company spent $140,000 for lobbying in 2006. $120,000 went to two lobbying firms, Cornerstone Government Affairs and International Business-Govt Counsellors, with the remainder being spent using in-house lobbyists. [8]

Personnel

Key executives and 2006 pay: [9]

Selected board members: [10]

Former Board Members

Contact details

One ConAgra Drive

Omaha, NE 68102

Phone: 402-595-4000

Fax: 402-595-4707

Web: http://www.conagra.com

Resources

Other SourceWatch Resources

External articles

References

  1. ↑ ConAgra Profile, Hoovers, accessed August 2007.
  2. ↑ ConAgra Foods, ConAgra, accessed August 2007.
  3. ↑ Jeremy Jacquot, Changing World Technologies, a maker of biodiesel and fertilizers, files for $100M IPO, Deals & More, August 14, 2008
  4. ↑ WASTES ARE MUCH IN DEMAND, BioCycle Magazine, November 2005, Vol. 46, No. 11, p. 6
  5. ↑ Environmental Protection Agency, TNSSS: EPA-822-R-08-016 and EPA-822-R-08-018, January 2009
  6. ↑ BioCycle, Exhibitor Directory, publisher's website, accessed November 3, 2011
  7. ↑ 2006 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed August 2007.
  8. ↑ ConAgra lobbying expenses, Open Secrets.
  9. ↑ ConAgra Key Executives, Yahoo Finance, accessed August 2007.
  10. ↑ Board of Directors, ConAgra, accessed August 2007.

ConAgra Foods

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from ConAgra)

ConAgra Foods, Inc.| |

TypePublic (NYSE: CAG)
IndustryFood processing
Founded

1919 as Nebraska Consolidated Mills[1]

1971 as ConAgra Foods

HeadquartersOmaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Key people

Gary Rodkin

President & CEO

ProductsPackaged foods
RevenueUS$12.4 Billion (2010)[2]
Employees25,000 (2008)[3]
Websitewww.conagrafoods.com

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is an American packaged foods company. ConAgra's products are available in supermarkets, as well as restaurants and food service establishments. Its headquarters are located in Omaha, Nebraska. ConAgra also formerly had locations in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Gilroy, California, King City, California, Modesto, California, and Fernley, Nevada part of Gilroy Foods & Flavors now part of Olam International. Also, Irvine, California, and Downers Grove, Illinois (which were both headquarters of the former company, Beatrice Foods).

Contents [hide]

[edit] History

The previous ConAgra Foods logo, which was used until June 2009.

ConAgra was founded in 1919[1] by Frank Little and Alva Kinney, who brought together four grain mills as Nebraska Consolidated Mills. Initially headquartered in Grand Island, Nebraska, it moved to Omaha in 1922. The company ran at a profit until 1936, when Kinney retired. In 1940, the company began producing flour at its own mill, and in 1942 ventured into the livestock feed business. That year president R.S. Dickinson opened the company's first out-of-state facility in Alabama with a flour mill and animal feed plant.

After researching new uses for their flour, Nebraska Consolidated Mills (NCM) funded the establishment of Duncan Hines in 1951 as a way to market more flour by selling cake mixes. This venture was very successful, leading the company to its current place as the third largest flour miller in the U.S. However, this did not lead NCM to consider other food ventures, and instead they sold their assets in Duncan Hines to Procter & Gamble in 1956. As American households purchased more and more prepared and instant foods in the 1950s and 1960s, NCM chose not to expand into the businesses that used their flour, instead turning in the opposite direction and focusing more on raw foods like poultry and expanding its livestock feed business.

In 1971, Nebraska Consolidated Mills changed its name to ConAgra, a combination of con for consolidated and agra, similarly short in English for agriculture. The 1970s brought the company to the brink of ruin as it lost money expanding into the fertilizer, catfish, and pet product industries and as commodity speculation wiped out ConAgra's margins on raw foods. In 1974, C. Michael "Mike" Harper, an experienced food industry executive, took over the firm and brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy. Nonetheless, ConAgra's business model left it at the mercy of volatile commodity prices. In response, the company set off on a two-decade-long buying spree, purchasing over one hundred prepared food brands, starting with its 1980 purchase of Banquet Foods. It moved heavily into the frozen food business and the packaged meat industry, and then picked up a selection of other brands from firms like RJR Nabisco and Beatrice Foods among others, as the leveraged buyouts of the 1980s resulted in the divestiture or breakup of many major American consumer product firms. In 1993 alone it purchased $500 million in smaller firms, and in 1998 it purchased another $480 million in brands from Nabisco. Con Agra has also in the past has sponsored a baseball team in Twin Falls, Idaho who had won the championship in July 6,2011

[edit] Governance

The board of directors are: Mogens C. Bay, Stephen G. Butler, Steven F. Goldstone, Joie A. Gregor, Rajive Johri, W. G. Jurgensen, Richard H. Lenny, Ruth Ann Marshall, Gary M. Rodkin, Andrew J. Schindler and Kenneth E. Stinson.[4]

[edit] Products

Main article: List of ConAgra brands

ConAgra produces a wide array of food products including cooking oil, frozen dinners, hot cocoa, hot dogs, peanut butter and many others. Some of ConAgra's major brands include Hunt's, Healthy Choice, Marie Callender's and Hebrew National.

[edit] Criticism

[edit] Environmental issues

ConAgra has been criticized for its lack of response to global climate change. A 2006 report by CERES, a non-profit organization that works to address global climate change and other sustainability issues, titled "Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection," measures how 100 leading global companies are responding to global warming. Companies in the report were evaluated on a 0 to 100 scale. ConAgra scored a total of 4 points, the lowest of any of the food companies rated.[5] In a 2009 ranking by Newsweek, ConAgra was ranked 342nd out of America's 500 largest corporations in terms of overall environmental score.[6]

In 2003-2004, ConAgra participated in a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency voluntary investigation and clean-up program. Through the program, the company cleaned up a property previously used for lithium ore processing and constructed a new 80,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) office/warehouse building.[7] This voluntary program offers "future liability protection".[8]

[edit] Labor issues

In May 2003, ConAgra and its subsidiary Gilroy Foods agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle charges of hiring discrimination brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The charges involved a July 1999 Teamsters strike at a plant in King City, CA, then owned by Basic Vegetable Products LP but later purchased by ConAgra. In August 2001, the company successfully negotiated with the union to end the two-year strike with a new contract that would recall workers based on seniority. However, the recall process excluded workers who were on leave at the time of the purchase including those out due to work injury or pregnancy. Others were denied jobs due to a history of previous injury or illness, despite their having no restrictions on returning to work. According to the EEOC, most of the 39 workers who were excluded from the recall process had been working at the plant for 10 to 30 years and were primarily Hispanic and female.[9]

The company's Greeley, Colorado, plant had been cited almost 10 times from 1999 to 2002 for violating worker safety.[10]

[edit] Health violations

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture halted operations at two ConAgra plants because of health violations. The company was threatened with shutdowns at least a half dozen more times.[citation needed] The ConAgra facility in Longmont, Colorado, had the highest rate of Salmonella among all the turkey processors tested by the Department during 2001. Nearly half of the turkeys processed at ConAgra's Longmont, Colorado, facility were contaminated with harmful Salmonella bacteria, compared with a rate of 13 percent for the industry at large according to the consumer advocacy organization, Center for Science in the Public Interest.[11]

In 2002, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced 19 million pounds of ground beef recalled after 19 fell ill in California, Colorado, Michigan, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming from E. coli. The source was traced to a plant in Greeley, Colorado.[12]

[edit] Illegal activity

In 1997, ConAgra pled guilty to federal criminal charges that its Peavey Grain unit illegally sprayed water on stored grain to increase its weight and value and also bribed Federal inspectors. The company agreed to pay $8.3 million to resolve the charges, which included a $4.4 million criminal fine, $3.45 million as compensation for illegal profits and $450,000 to reimburse the U.S. Department of Agriculture for storage and investigation expenses. ConAgra had also paid $2 million to settle a related civil case filed by a group of Indiana farmers.[13]

[edit] Demolition of historic site

ConAgra was responsible for the demolition of one of the largest sites on the National Register of Historic Places when it destroyed over 20 historic structures in "Jobbers Canyon," a 19th century warehouse district along the banks of the Missouri River in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The demolition was performed to make room for a sprawling new corporate campus, and prompted protests and lawsuits from historic preservationists. Charles Harper, the chief executive of ConAgra at the time, described the structures as "some big, ugly red brick buildings." The National Trust for Historic Preservation asked that the historic legacy of a city and region not be held hostage to the narrow corporate preferences of a single commercial enterprise, but ConAgra refused to reconsider. The Jobbers Canyon district was adjacent to another historic district, "The Old Market," which has proved to be an important center of cultural, tourist, and residential development in Omaha.

Multinational Monitor, a corporate watchdog organization, named ConAgra one of the 'Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s'.[14]

[edit] Genetically modified food

In 2002, ConAgra, together with other major food and beverage companies including PepsiCo, General Mills, Kelloggs, Sara Lee, and H.J. Heinz Co., spent to defeat Oregon's measure 27, which would have required food companies to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients.[15] According to the Oregon Secretary of State, ConAgra contributed $71,000 to the campaign to defeat the ballot initiative.[16]

[edit] Product incidents

ConAgra recalled 19 million pounds of ground beef in July 2002 with E. coli bacterial contamination. It was the third-largest recall up to that time. That meat was linked to the illnesses of 19 people in six Western and Midwestern states.[17]

In February 2007, ConAgra recalled jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter with the product code "2111" on the lid, because they were linked to a Salmonella outbreak. Ultimately, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) documented more than 628 individuals who were stricken with salmonella poisoning in 47 states that could be traced back to Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter. Of those, 20% were hospitalized, according to the CDC, which reported no deaths associated with the outbreak.[18] Since Peter Pan (but not Great Value) is only made at one plant, the recall turned out to include all Peter Pan jars sold in the U.S. between May 2006 and February 2007.[19] As of August 2007, 39 lawsuits had been filed against ConAgra, seeking a total of more than $5 million in damages for doctor bills, hospital stays, and lost wages stemming from the contaminated food.[18]

On September 4, 2007, the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers recommended reduction of diacetyl in butter-like flavorings, such as those used in popcorn, due to cases of the potentially fatal disease bronchiolitis obliterans or "Popcorn Workers's Lung" appearing among plant workers exposed to diacetyl fumes, as well as in one case that involved a popcorn consumer. The next day ConAgra Foods announced that it would soon remove diacetyl from its Jiffy Pop and Orville Redenbacher's popcorn products.[20]

On October 11, 2007, ConAgra asked stores to pull the Banquet and generic brand chicken and turkey pot pies due to 152 cases of Salmonella poisoning in 31 states being linked to the consumption of ConAgra pot pies, with 20 people hospitalized. At that time, both the USDA and ConAgra decided in favor of a consumer advisory and against a recall. ConAgra said the issue stemmed from pies not being cooked thoroughly in older microwaves, and that the package's heating instructions would be changed to reflect different microwaves.[21] However, the plant in Marshall, Missouri, where the pot pies were manufactured was closed on October 11 as well.[22] By October 12, a full recall was announced, affecting all varieties of frozen pot pies sold under the brands Banquet, Albertson's, Food Lion, Great Value, Hill Country Fare, Kirkwood, Kroger, Meijer, and Western Family. The recalled pot pies included all varieties in 7-oz. single-serving packages bearing the number P-9 or "Est. 1059" printed on the side of the package.[23] By October 14, there were 174 cases of Salmonella poisoning in 32 states being linked to the consumption of the contaminated ConAgra pot pies, with 33 people hospitalized. Public interest groups criticized ConAgra for the delay in issuing the recall, a decision which ConAgra defended by saying the recall was a precaution. At the time of the recall, the USDA had still not identified the source of the salmonella contamination.[24] On October 17, the Colorado Dept. of Public Health reported that "An investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state public health departments involved a large cluster of illnesses caused by Salmonella that identified these products" and stated that, "Nationally, at least 211 individuals from 35 states have become ill."[25]

[edit] 2009 Slim Jim plant explosion

Wikinews has related news: Explosion at ConAgra plant in North Carolina, multiple injuries

On June 9, 2009 at 11:27 am ET, the Slim Jim manufacturing plant in Garner, North Carolina was rocked by an explosion that resulted in the collapse of a section of the facility's roof and wall. Four workers were killed while 67 others - including three firefighters - were hospitalized for burns and exposure to ammonia gases. The explosion happened when natural gas was purged into the interior of the building during commissioning of a new, gas-fired water heater.[26] This explosion was directly responsible for an amendment to the National Fuel Gas Code prohibiting fuel gas piping systems in large buildings from being purged indoors. [27]

On March 3, 2010, ConAgra announced that they will close the Garner, NC plant in approximately 18 months, moving Slim Jim production to their plant in Troy, Ohio.[28]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra#cite_ref-Baghai_0-0) b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra#cite_ref-Baghai_0-1) Baghai, Mehrdad, et al. (2000). The Alchemy of Growth. Da Capo Press, p. 176 ISBN 0-7382-0309-2
  2. ^ CNN Money: Fortune 500, FY2010[1]
  3. ^ "Conagra Foods Inc. 2008 Annual Report"
  4. ^ http://company.conagrafoods.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=202310&p=irol-govboard
  5. ^ http://www.ceres.org//Document.Doc?id=90
  6. ^ http://greenrankings.newsweek.com/companies/view/conagra-foods
  7. ^ Selected VIC Success Stories - Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
  8. ^ http://www.pca.state.mn.us/cleanup/vic.html#about
  9. ^ IATP | Ag Observatory | Agribusiness Center
  10. ^ Winter, Greg (2002-07-20). "Beef Processor's Parent No Stranger to Troubles". New York Times.
  11. ^ Half of Turkeys Fail Salmonella Tests at ConAgra Plant
  12. ^ ELIZABETH BECKER. (2002, July 20). 19 MILLION POUNDS OF MEAT RECALLED AFTER 19 FALL ILL :MOVE IS SECOND LARGEST ConAgra Plant Is the Source--U.S. Says Much of Beef in Search Has Been Eaten 19 Million Pounds of Ground Beef Is Recalled After 19 Fall III. New York Times (1923-Current file),p. A1. Retrieved May 28, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2006). (Document ID: 731659132).
  13. ^ "Conagra Set to Settle Criminal Charges It Increased Weight and Value of Grain". The New York Times. March 20, 1997. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  14. ^ JULY/AUGUST 1999
  15. ^ CropChoice.com News
  16. ^ Responsible Shopper Profile: ConAgra Foods
  17. ^ [2] New York Times.
  18. ^ a(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra#cite_ref-autogenerated1_17-0) b(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConAgra#cite_ref-autogenerated1_17-1) The Daily Report. ConAgra faces 39 suits over bad peanut butter. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  19. ^ News Story - Pipeline
  20. ^ USA Today ConAgra to drop popcorn chemical linked to lung ailment
  21. ^ Yahoo.com, ConAgra asks stores to quit selling pies
  22. ^ CNN.com [3] retrieved 10-13-2007.
  23. ^ St. Cloud Times "ConAgra Foods recalls all pot pies". Retrieved 10-13-2007
  24. ^ Associated Press "Critics: ConAgra Mishandled Recall". Retrieved 10-14-2007
  25. ^ http://denver.yourhub.com/CherryHillsVillage/Stories/News/General-News/Story~379251.aspx Retrieved 10-17-07
  26. ^ http://www.garnernews.net/view/full_story/5613978/article-CSB-to-hold-public-meeting-on-gas-explosion-at-the-ConAgra-Slim-Jim-plant?instance=secondary_news_left_column
  27. ^ http://www.csb.gov/newsroom/detail.aspx?nid=348
  28. ^ http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7155061/

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CSSMP fully supports SNA's comments on the proposed regulations and believes our shared concerns should be reflected in the interim rule.

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