000821 Did Smithfield File Proper COO Disclosure?

New York - Pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc. failed to file required U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure reports on the demotion of its president and chief operating officer, Lewis Little, the Food and Allied Service Trades Department of the AFL-CIO said.

FAST said Smithfield's most recent SEC filings showed that Little no longer served in the capacities of president and chief operating officer. Smithfield Chief Executive Joseph Luter assumed the role of president but the company has not disclosed who the new chief operating officer is, FAST said.

“While we do not know whether the circumstances surrounding Mr. Little's demotion were the result a dispute or disagreement with Mr. Luter or the other directors, we do know that the positions he occupied are critically important to the Company's operations,” said Mark Anderson, president of the Food and Allied Service Trades Department.

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