SMITHFIELD, Va. – Smithfield Foods Inc. announced Tuesday that is has extended the use of CHEP pooling program to take advantage of environmental and efficiency savings.

The company said the CHEP Pallet Pooling System generates significantly less solid waste, uses less energy and creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than other common shipping options, according to a recent Life-Cycle Inventory (LCI) Analysis conducted by Franklin Associates.

Smithfield said it is now using CHEP pallets to transport product from more than 40 Smithfield Specialty Foods, John Morrell & Co., Farmland Foods, Smithfield Beef and Butterball facilities around the country to supermarkets, wholesale distributors, club stores and foodservice distributors across the United States and Canada.

"As a company that has grown both organically and through acquisition during the past few decades, Smithfield was using a variety of shipping platforms to deliver our products to market,” Jack Mandato, assistant to the president and director of strategic sourcing. “After reviewing our options and consulting with trading partners, we have moved our operations entirely to CHEP because they provide us with higher quality pallets and improved supply chain efficiencies.”