Disaster Relief Convoy Hits Highway to Help Texas, Gulf States; Twenty-six Tyson Foods’ tractor trailer rigs deliver more than 390 tons of food

SPRINGDALE, Ark. – Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) is stepping up in a big way to help supply more than 3.2 million meals for Texas and Gulf Coast residents affected by recent hurricanes. Twenty-six truckloads of Tyson chicken and pork are headed south to restock food banks in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi during the next four days. As a part of the company’s ongoing commitment to hunger relief with Feeding America, formerly known as America’s Second Harvest, Tyson Team Members have coordinated this caravan of goodwill. The first 15 of 26 tractor trailers left Arvest Ballpark Thursday in a convoy that, in total, will deliver more than 3.2 million meals for those in need.

“Helping our neighbors when disaster happens is important to us, which is why so many of the Tyson Team Members have organized this effort to help out in Texas and the Gulf States,” said Dick Bond, president and CEO of Tyson Foods. “With increasing fuel prices and the adverse effects of the economy, times were already tough for many families. Food banks are short on supplies, and this is an area where we can help. Hunger relief is a top priority for Tyson; we’re blessed to be able to help.”

Food banks throughout Texas and the Gulf States are struggling to meet the needs of thousands of residents who have lost their homes or are displaced due to severe weather, most recently Hurricane Ike. According to Feeding America, the need for basic food assistance has overwhelmed the resources of many food banks since the recent storms. Tyson trucks carrying the food donations will arrive in Texas over the next four days in Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen, Odessa, San Antonio, Texarkana, Tyler, Victoria, Wichita Falls, as well as food banks in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana.

Tyson Foods is a leader in the fight against hunger. Today’s donation brings the amount of food donated by Tyson Foods for disaster relief in 2008 to more than 1.5 million pounds- the equivalent of more than 6 million meals. The company is actively engaged in food donation events and fundraising activities year-round to benefit community food banks and support hunger relief volunteers and local food drives across the country. Since 2000, the company has donated more than 52 million pounds of protein products to more than 950 hunger-relief agencies nationwide.