Cold Repacking Center First of Its Kind in Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK (February 22, 2017) – Today, the Arkansas Foodbank along with representatives from Tyson Foods and the Feeding America food banks in Arkansas announced the opening of the Foodbank’s Cold Repackaging Center.

This occasion marks a collaborative effort among our state’s five food banks and the Tyson Protein Innovation Fund that will help serve more protein to thousands of Arkansans.

In our efforts to meet the needs of 567,000 hungry Arkansans and the partner agencies that serve them, the Repackaging Center helps maximize the amount of donated product we receive in order to reduce both systemic food waste and costs to ourselves and our members. Bulk meat and poultry donations as well as frozen produce can now be repackaged into manageable portions and sent out to food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, shelters and schools all across our state for families and individuals in need.

“12 percent of the 25 million pounds of food we distributed in 2016 was meat and poultry,” says Arkansas Foodbank CEO Rhonda Sanders. “We know that in order to provide a more nutritious mix of foods to our agencies and clients, we must find ways to increase the amount of protein we receive and distribute.”

Thanks to the Tyson Protein Innovation Fund, this center will solve that problem and serve as the centralized location for all Feeding America food banks in the state:

· Northwest Arkansas Food Bank located in Bethel Heights

· River Valley Regional Food Bank located in Fort Smith

· Harvest Regional Food Bank located in Texarkana

· The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas located in Jonesboro and their PDO(Partner Distribution Organization), the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas located in Norfork

“We’re proud to support all of the Arkansas foodbanks and their efforts to better serve the community,” said Debra Vernon, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Tyson Foods. “The Repackaging Center is a wonderful example of creating an innovative and sustainable solution in the fight against hunger."

Bulk frozen donations secured within the Food bank service area will be repackaged into smaller quantities and placed on our agency shopping list. Donations that are secured from outside of our service area will be repackaged and distributed back to their respective food banks. This will allow all hungry Arkansans to benefit from the increased flow of protein throughout our distribution system.

The Repacking Center originally opened in 2015 for dry bulk donations such as rice and beans. Immediately we recognized the need to also construct a cold repackaging center to increase receipt and distribution of refrigerated and frozen protein products.

One in FOUR children and seniors are at risk for hunger in Arkansas.Twenty percent of the overall population struggle with having enough resources to meet their daily nutritional needs. The Cold Repackaging Center will be a step forward in not only providing more protein for Arkansas families, but also uniting our communities in the fight against hunger.

Arkansas Foodbank, the largest food bank in Arkansas, is a member of Feeding America and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. Its recent merger with the Arkansas Rice Depot creates new and innovative programming focused on serving hungry Arkansans with more healthy and nutritious food. Programs like Food For Kids, Food For Families, and Food For Seniors provide food and other resources for more than 450 food pantries, soup kitchens, schools, colleges, shelters, senior centers, and other agencies that provide aid directly to hungry Arkansans. For information on how you can fight hunger, visit www.arkansasfoodbank.org.

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is one of the world’s largest food companies with leading brands such as Tyson®, Jimmy Dean®, Hillshire Farm®, Sara Lee®, Ball Park®, Wright®, Aidells® and State Fair®. It’s a recognized market leader in chicken, beef and pork as well as prepared foods, including bacon, breakfast sausage, turkey, lunchmeat, hot dogs, pizza crusts and toppings, tortillas and desserts. The company supplies retail and foodservice customers throughout the United States and approximately 115 countries. Tyson Foods was founded in 1935 by John W. Tyson, whose family has continued to lead the business with his son, Don Tyson, guiding the company for many years and grandson, John H. Tyson, serving as the current chairman of the board of directors. The company currently has approximately 114,000 Team Members employed at more than 400 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world. Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson Foods strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value

for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it.