FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1996                        (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
   SLAUGHTERHOUSE COMPANY PLEADS GUILTY TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES

FORMER PARENT CHIQUITA NOT PROSECUTED DUE TO VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- John Morrell and Company, until recently a
subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, International, today pleaded
guilty to dumping slaughterhouse waste into the Big Sioux River
in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and deliberately submitting phony
test data and discharge reports to conceal its crimes.   

     Morrell agreed to pay a $2 million criminal fine and spend
another $1 million to establish a local environmental cleanup
fund, according to a Plea Agreement and Criminal Information
today filed in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls.  Sentencing is
scheduled for May 13, 1996.  
    
     The charges include conspiracy and violations of the Clean
Water Act related to Morrell's unlawful discharges of
slaughterhouse waste from a company wastewater treatment plant
over an 8-year period, from 1985 to 1993.  In one 17-month
period, from August, 1991 through December, 1992, the company
violated its EPA-issued permit more than 130 times, according to
the government.  
     
       The government declined to prosecute Chiquita, Morrell's
parent company, which was responsible for disclosing Morrell's
violations to the government in 1993.  Morrell was reportedly
sold on December 20, 1995, to Smithfield Foods, Inc. in an
approximately $60 million cash/stock transaction.

     "I want to praise Chiquita for coming forward and initiating
this disclosure," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney
General in charge of the Environment and Natural Resources
Division.  "But its disclosure cannot undo the serious and
longstanding environmental violations committed by Morrell."  


                              (MORE)
     The Justice Department has a policy that encourages
voluntary disclosures of environmental violations by permitting 
prosecutors to take various factors, including a company's
cooperation, prompt disclosure and correction of the violation,
into consideration.  Other factors considered under the policy
include pervasive non-compliance, knowledge of violations by
senior officials and the extent of any environmental compliance
program.   

     Karen Schreier, the U.S. Attorney for South Dakota said, "It
is always of special concern when the charge is that a company
concealed violations and submitted false reports to the
government about pollution.  It is impossible to protect the
environment if a corporation deliberately violates its permit and
then lies about it to the authorities.  The entire regulatory
system depends on honest reporting." 

     The government's papers charged that Morrell:

     failed to disclose or stop the violations during a period of
     8 years;

     was responsible for more than 130 permit violations;

     knowingly submitted false discharge monitoring reports
     ("DMRs") to the government;

     deliberately rigged sampling tests to get desired results
     and conceal violations; 

     had a "corporate policy" to exclude information about the
     violations from company documents;

     directed managers and employees not to discuss the
     violations with government officials; and 

     deliberately refused to expend funds necessary to correct
     the problem and bring the plant into compliance.
  
     Today's announcement follows the January 1995 guilty pleas 
of Ronald E. Greenwood and Barry M. Milbauer, two Morrell company
managers who are currently awaiting sentencing for conspiring to
violate the Clean Water Act.  The employees admitted to
falsifying DMRs and rigging the sampling tests.  The United
States has also filed a civil enforcement action against Morrell
and, earlier this year, lodged with the court a partial consent
decree under which Morrell would take actions necessary to obtain
and maintain full compliance with the Clean Water Act.  Under
today's plea agreement, Morrell has promised to cooperate with
the government's ongoing investigation.

                              (MORE)
     Under the Clean Water Act, individuals or businesses with
environmental discharge permits must take samples and file
monthly discharge reports with the government.  The company filed
false reports showing levels of the chemical, ammonia nitrogen,
within the permitted range although they were actually well over
legal limits.  Ammonia nitrogen can harm fish, mammals and other
aquatic life, causing death, deformity and a limiting of species
growth and diversity.

     Today's action comes as federal and some state legislatures
consider bills that would make such cases harder to bring.  The
legislation would limit the government's ability to learn of
environmental violations, including criminal offenses, and create
an evidentiary privilege for violations uncovered in internal
company audits.  In addition, some of these legislative proposals
would even immunize polluters who eventually disclose, regardless
of how deliberate the act, or the amount of harm to human health
and the environment.  

     Assistant Attorney General Schiffer said, "If enacted, these
proposals would make it much easier for offenders to keep both
their past misconduct and ongoing pollution hidden from the
government and public."  

     Schreier and Schiffer commended the Environmental Protection
Agency Criminal Investigation Division Region VIII for its
"outstanding work" in investigating the case.  The case is being
prosecuted jointly by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the
Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section. 

     
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96-035