No environmental complaints for hog producer Murphy-Brown in 2011
Murphy-Brown, the livestock production subsidiary for Smithfield Foods successfully managed the complex environmental aspects of its hog farms across the country.
Murphy-Brown has earned Smithfield Foods’ Zero Hero Award for its outstanding environmental management performance last year, which included managing more than 450 company-owned farms nationwide without incurring a single environmental notice of violation (NOV).
NOVs
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state environmental agencies issue NOVs for violations of their environmental rules and regulations, and direct companies to take the appropriate corrective actions.
“In addition to shining a well-deserved spotlight on last year’s outstanding performance, we are also recognizing Murphy-Brown for a decade of continuous improvement in environmental management at all of its facilities across the country,” said Dennis H. Treacy, Smithfield’s executive vice president and chief sustainability officer.
“Murphy-Brown’s success clearly demonstrates that responsible companies can promote and achieve social change,” Treacy added.
“Given the complexity of raising hogs today and the sheer number of farms and different manure management activities that we manage on a daily basis, ‘zero’ NOVs is truly an amazing accomplishment,” said Kraig Westerbeek, Murphy-Brown’s assistant vice president for environmental compliance and worker safety.
Corporate environmental policy
A decade ago, Smithfield adopted a corporate environmental policy committing the company to pollution prevention and continuous improvement in its environmental performance. In 2002 Smithfield received ISO 14001 certification for all of its domestic company-owned farms, and by 2004 its U.S. processing facilities also earned the same ISO certification.
Related website:
• Smithfield Foods
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