Release Details

Company Announces Organizational Realignment to Enhance Customer Service, Quality, Teamwork and Communication

PITTSBURG, Texas, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (NYSE: PPC), the world's largest chicken company, today announced that Robert A. Wright has been promoted to chief operating officer. Mr. Wright previously served as executive vice president of sales and marketing, a position he had held since June 2004. He succeeds J. Clinton Rivers, who was promoted to president and chief executive officer earlier this month.

Pilgrim's Pride also announced an organizational realignment designed to enhance customer service, product quality, teamwork and communications. Under the new structure, four senior division vice presidents will have overall responsibility for sales, operations and quality assurance in their respective lines of business: case ready, fresh foodservice, supply operations and prepared foods. Those four senior executives, in turn, will report to Mr. Wright, whose former position as executive vice president of sales and marketing has been eliminated under this new organization alignment.

"Bob has the ideal background and experience to lead this new reporting structure, which we believe will enable us to deliver enhanced service, quality and value to our customers," Mr. Rivers explained. "Bob is a proven leader who can forge stronger relationships among our sales and operations teams. His combination of operations and sales experience will prove invaluable as we work to position the company for sustained, profitable growth."

Mr. Wright joined Pilgrim's Pride in October 2003 as executive vice president of the company's turkey division after serving as president of Butterball Turkey Co. for five years. Prior to leading Butterball, he held various leadership positions at Cargill, Inc., including vice president of operations -- worldwide poultry, general manager -- broiler division, and director of operations and engineering. Mr. Wright earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Fitchburg State College, graduating cum laude. He also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Rivier College in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Pilgrim's Pride also announced that Shane Butler has been promoted to senior division vice president, prepared foods. He previously served as senior vice president, prepared foods regional operations since February 2007. Prior to that, Mr. Butler was vice president, prepared foods regional operations, having previously served in successive management positions at the Company's Mt. Pleasant, Texas, prepared foods facility. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and a Master of Science degree in business management from LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas.

About Pilgrim's Pride

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is the largest chicken company in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest in Mexico. Pilgrim's Pride employs approximately 54,500 people and operates 37 chicken processing and 12 prepared-foods facilities, with major operations in Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Mexico and Puerto Rico as well as other facilities in Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, Ohio and Utah.

Pilgrim's Pride products are sold to foodservice, retail and frozen entree customers. The Company's primary distribution is through retailers, foodservice distributors and restaurants throughout the United States and Puerto Rico and in the Northern and Central regions of Mexico. For more information, please visit http://www.pilgrimspride.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release that state the intentions, plans, hopes, beliefs, anticipations, expectations or predictions of the future of Pilgrim's Pride Corporation and its management, including as to the expected benefits and synergies associated with the acquisition of Gold Kist and changes in pricing, demand and market conditions for chicken products and profitability, are forward-looking statements. It is important to note that the actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements include: matters affecting the poultry industry generally, including fluctuations in the commodity prices of feed ingredients, chicken and turkey; additional outbreaks of avian influenza or other diseases, either in our own flocks or elsewhere, affecting our ability to conduct our operations and/or demand for our poultry products; contamination of our products, which has previously and can in the future lead to product liability claims and product recalls; exposure to risks related to product liability, product recalls, property damage and injuries to persons, for which insurance coverage is expensive, limited and potentially inadequate; asset impairment and other charges related to facility closures or modifications; management of our cash resources, particularly in light of our substantial leverage; restrictions imposed by, and as a result of, our substantial leverage; changes in laws or regulations affecting our operations or the application thereof; new immigration legislation or increased enforcement efforts in connection with existing immigration legislation that cause our costs of doing business to increase, cause us to change the way in which we do business, or otherwise disrupt our operations; competitive factors and pricing pressures or the loss of one or more of our largest customers; inability to consummate, or effectively integrate, any acquisition, including integrating our recent acquisition of Gold Kist, or realize the associated cost savings and operating synergies currently anticipated; currency exchange rate fluctuations, trade barriers, exchange controls, expropriation and other risks associated with foreign operations; disruptions in international markets and distribution channels; and the impact of uncertainties of litigation as well as other risks described under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Media Contact

Cameron Bruett
Communications
Phone: +1 970.506.7801 | Email: cameron.bruett@jbssa.com