Hormel Foods Launches Its 16th Annual Global Impact Report Company shares its food journey progress as a leading corporate citizen

AUSTIN, Minn., August 30, 2022 /3BL Media/ - Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL), a Fortune 500 global branded food company, today announced the launch of its 16^th annual Global Impact Report. The report, available online at https://csr.hormelfoods.com/, contains detailed information about the company’s progress toward its corporate responsibility and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals in fiscal 2021.

“For over 130 years, we’ve been making a difference, with our people, in our communities and with our products,” said Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Hormel Foods. “We do this by producing high-quality, safe, affordable and convenient food products while being an unwavering steward of the environment. We are on a mission with   — one that compels us to do our part every day to make the world a better place and to continue to raise the bar on our ESG efforts.”

Hormel Foods continues to be recognized as a leading corporate citizen. In 2021, the company was named one of America’s Most Responsible Companies by Newsweek magazine, one of the 50 Best Companies to Sell For by Selling Power, a Best for Vets Employer by Military Times and one of the World’s Top Female-Friendly Companies by Forbes. The company also received several Impact Awards from Progressive Grocer for its educational support and food security programs.

Some highlights of the company’s 2021 progress include:

• The company launched its updated set of corporate responsibility and ESG goals – its 20 By 30 Challenge. Through the updated goal set, the company is striving to achieve 20 qualitative and quantitative goals and commitments by the end of 2030. The goals were based on a key topics assessment process that helped the company identify and prioritize the issues most relevant to the business and its stakeholders. The goals also support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• The company initiated or completed several renewable energy wind and solar projects and is on track to have an approved science-based target for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2023.
• The company assessed several regenerative agriculture projects, and its Applegate subsidiary launched the Applegate Naturals hot dog made with beef raised on verified regenerative U.S. grasslands.
• To ensure the company’s high standards for animal care are met, more than 2,300 audits were conducted. In addition, the company continued its antibiotic stewardship work and published its first Antibiotic Stewardship Report. The report provides comprehensive, detailed and transparent information about the company’s antibiotic stewardship program and metrics from some of the farms in its supply chain.
• The company launched over 400 new retail and foodservice items and achieved its goal to generate 15% of sales from innovative new items.* In addition, the company focused on efforts to reduce added sugars and sodium in its products and continued its clean-label initiative.
• As part of its efforts to support equity in education, the company pioneered a groundbreaking college degree program, Inspired Pathways, for the dependent children of its team members. The 2021-2022 academic year was the first year of this program that provided support to over 150 students. This included many first-generation college students.
• In alignment with the company’s Safety First culture, safety training was conducted for an average of over 15,000 team members every month and approximately 1,000 safety assessments were completed each month companywide.
• The company contributed more than $8.5 million in cash and products to help others. This included $6.6 million in hunger-relief donations (or more than 8.4 million individual meals**), a donation of 2.1 million cans of SPAMMY^® (a shelf-stable poultry product to help prevent childhood malnutrition in Guatemala) and more than $960,000 to support educational institutions and the company’s Inspired Pathways program students.

“Feeding people is an awesome responsibility; one that we take seriously,” Snee said. “As a global branded food company, we understand the responsibility that comes with our size and scale, not only for consumers, employees and shareholders, but also to our customers and communities. Our 20,000 inspired team members are committed to  , and we are confident we can continue to be a force for positive change in the world.”

The 2021 Hormel Foods Global Impact Report follows the Global Reporting Initiative’s standards and is developed in accordance with the core option. The content index of the report also includes references to the corresponding UN Sustainable Development Goals. To view the entire report, please visit https://csr.hormelfoods.com/. A downloadable PDF will be available in the coming weeks.

^{*Based on net sales for new items launched within the previous three years and the projected sales for items scheduled to launch in the next two years, divided by total reported sales for the year.} 

ABOUT HORMEL FOODS — Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $11 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters, Jennie-O^® and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the “Global 2000 World’s Best Employers” list by Forbes magazine for three years, is one of Fortune magazine’s most admired companies, has appeared on the “100 Best Corporate Citizens” list by 3BL Media 13 times, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement — Inspired People. Inspired Food.™ — to bring some of the world’s most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://csr.hormelfoods.com/.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTSThis release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements may concern the company’s goals, strategies or other expressions regarding matters that are not historical facts. These statements are typically accompanied by the words “plans,” “intends,” “expects,” “may,” “could,” “believes,” “would,” “might,” “anticipates” or similar terms. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the risk that we will be unable to achieve our goals or execute our strategies because of market, competitive or other conditions. Please refer to the cautionary statements regarding “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements” that appear in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, which can be accessed at hormelfoods.com in the “Investors” section, for additional information. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

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Contact: Kelly [email protected]

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