AUSTIN, MINN. — Hormel Foods Corporation announced it is making “significant progress” toward its sustainability goals at all of its manufacturing facilities as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to reduce its environmental impact.

“We are making significant progress toward achieving the environmental sustainability goals we have outlined in our annual corporate responsibility report,” said Thomas E. Raymond, manager of environmental engineering. “This success is the result of dedicated employee efforts and capital improvement projects.”

Fiscal year 2009 progress made toward achieving the goals set by the company include:

• Reduced water use by more than 447 million gallons in 2009 compared to 2008 from its U.S. manufacturing operations. The company has reduced total water use by more than 590 million gallons or 9% over the past three years.

• Sent 7,275 fewer tons of solid waste to landfills in 2009 compared to 2008 from its U.S. manufacturing operations. The company has reduced the amount of solid waste sent to landfill by 16% over the past three years.

• Hormel Foods is reporting for the first time environmental information as normalized for production.

“Accounting for production levels allows us to benchmark and track our improvements and efficiencies,” Mr. Raymond said. “We are continuously improving our processes and this is an example of how we are further developing and increasing the transparency of our corporate responsibility reporting.”

These achievements and more information will be covered in-depth in the 2009 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report, scheduled for release in May 2010 at http://www.hormelfoods.com/csr.