Hormel Foods Corp. released the 2009 Hormel Foods Corporate Responsibility Report Tuesday covering issues of environmental and social performance.

“Our corporate responsibility report reflects our commitment to conduct business in a manner that minimizes our environmental impact and maximizes our social benefit, while providing value to our shareholders,” said Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer at Hormel Foods. “Every day we endeavor to follow the principles of “Our Way” — our corporate values structure — as embodied in people, process, products, performance and philanthropy. The goals established in our report tell the story of our commitment, our progress and our future plans in each of these key areas.”

The report shares details about Hormel’s new goals for employee safety, packaging minimization initiative, product development process, employee engagement, public policy involvement, and supplier responsibility and greenhouse gas emissions. The report also includes details about the company’s packaging minimization initiative, product development process, employee engagement and public policy involvement.

Some key highlights about the company’s corporate responsibility performance include:

7,275 fewer tons of solid waste sent to landfills

9 percent water use reduction since 2006

100 percent animal care requirements met by individuals who supply hogs to Hormel Foods

$4.2 million donated as charitable contributions

1 million pounds of product donated to food banks

219,598 total hours spent on employee training

$15.9 million distributed to eligible employees as part of company profit-sharing

A full, electronic version of the report is available at www.hormelfoods.com/csr. This is the third full report the company has released. The report was first released online in 2008.

Hormel plans to continue releasing the report annually. The next report will be released in May 2011 for data from November 2009 to October 2010.