Safeguarding integrity remains a critical business priority. Ethical and lawful conduct are essential parts of our company’s culture, and we are committed to conducting our business with the highest standards.
Smithfield maintains a Code of Conduct and Business Ethics applicable to all employees, officers, and directors, and the board’s Nominating and Governance Committee reviews it periodically. We publish the code in the five major languages of the countries in which we have operations. It conveys the company’s policies and practices for conducting business in accordance with applicable law and the highest ethical standards. Only the board or its Audit Committee may waive the Code for executive officers or directors and any such waiver must be promptly disclosed.
Our executive-level Ethics and Compliance Committee (the ECC), chaired by our chief legal officer, oversees the full range of compliance issues for Smithfield and administers the Code. The chair of the ECC regularly reports to the audit and sustainability committees of the board on risks and compliance issues related to the environment, animal care, and other corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. Smithfield’s chief sustainability officer, who is a member of the ECC, informs the board about Smithfield’s CSR issues and progress and regularly briefs the audit and sustainability committees on the progress of the CSR program.
All directors and executive officers are required to complete an annual certification relating to ethics and compliance, the Code, and other company policies. The chair of the ECC is required to report promptly any violation of the code by an executive officer or director to the chairman of the audit committee.
We also have provided employees with opportunities to report ethics violations or similar concerns through an anonymous telephone hotline. The company reviews and responds to all hotline complaints.
Our e-mail Code of Conduct certification process promotes awareness of our code and the values that we expect our employees to demonstrate in their day-to-day work. Each year, we send e-mails to all employees with e-mail accounts and they must acknowledge compliance. Certain supervisory/managerial personnel who do not have active e-mail accounts certify compliance by paper-based methods.
