Tyson Foods Exceeds 50 Million Pound Milestone in Fight Against Hunger

SPRINGDALE, Ark.– Today at the Arkansas Capitol, Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) officials announced a donation of 50,000 pounds of much needed protein to the Arkansas Foodbank Network. With this gift, Tyson has now donated more than 50 million pounds of food to hunger relief agencies since the company’s campaign to fight hunger began in 2000.



The donation, scheduled before last night’s devastating storms across Arkansas, will help the Food Bank Network assist their agencies in affected areas in their disaster relief efforts.



Nearly half a million Arkansans live in poverty and the state is known as one of the hungriest states in the nation. “We serve about 23,000 people in any given week of which two-thirds are children, elderly and working poor,” said Phyllis Haynes, Executive Director of The Arkansas Foodbank Network, which distributes about 34,000 pounds of food each day to more than 450 agencies in 33 counties.



“Our relationship with Tyson is particularly important since protein is often difficult to attain,” added Haynes. “Relationships like the one with Tyson enable the Arkansas Foodbank Network to successfully help feed the hungry in our state all year long.”



“The seven-year commitment by our company and our Team Members is the equivalent to lining up 1,428 full tractor trailer loads for 20 miles and has provided valuable protein for more than 200 million meals to our nations hungry,” said John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods. “This has been an unwavering commitment to the critical problem we face in this country, and I’m proud of our team and our customers who have joined us in this fight.



“Our hearts and prayers go out to the people across Arkansas affected by last night’s storms,” he said. “We’ll be doing what we can to contribute to rescue, recover and cleanup efforts in the aftermath these tragic events.”



Tyson’s involvement in the fight against hunger goes beyond food donations. Between 2003 and 2007, Tyson Team Members raised more than half a million dollars for hunger relief efforts, creating their own branded internal fundraising campaign, called “Powering the Spirit.”

Last year, Tyson provided $10,000 each to five America’s Second Harvest network members to pilot and launch the “Student Food Drive,” which is modeled after a program developed in the Quad Cities on the Iowa-Illinois border. The Student Food Drive is a six-week program designed to unite and empower high school students to help feed the hungry and promote volunteerism. Tyson hopes to help roll out the program to additional cities in 2008.