Talk:Conagra Brands

Failed GA

This article lacks any references and pictures and therefore does not meet the expectations of a good article. KI 21:22, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Is there a corporate editor in the house?

Looks like some folks want all mention of ConAgra brands and ConAgra food recalls either deleted or toned down. This is my second encounter with ConAgra stealth edits -- it happened during the ConAgra "Popcorn Worker's Lung" flurry of news stories in September 2007 as well on the page about Bronchiolitis obliterans. A word to the wise is sufficient. I have added this article to my watchlist. cat Catherineyronwode 23:05, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Are you implying someone here is astroturfing for ConAgra? If so, be specific and transparent about whose edits you have an issue with. Your statement is questioning people's impartiality and motivations, so it's only fair you say who it's directed towards.--Dali-Llama 00:09, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm also unsure as to where your accusations are directed. If there are notable issues with media coverage pertaining to CA's corporate activities, by all means source and include them. The list of brands is hosted on a separate article - there is no need to begin creating a second list which a) duplicates material held on the separate list, b) adds bulletpointed items to an article which should be written in prose, and c) invites editors to make subjective judgements about what qualifies as "major". The existence of several redlinks in the duplicated section adequately underlines this point. Rest assured my administrative eye on this article is entirely impartial - if you have POV concerns about the article, I'll be happy to take a look at them but please don't make accusations of "stealth editing" without specific evidence. Deiz talk 01:00, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I will be very specific. Back in September 2007 an editor was messing around the Bronchiolitis obliterans pages, (falsely) claiming that B.O. was not the same as Popcorn Worker's Lung -- right while the name ConAgra was in the news, due to diacetyl fumes being a cause of B.O., and some of those fumes being unleashed at ConAgra food plants. A few weeks later i ran into an editor with the actual user name ConAgra (account since deleted) who had similar intentions, namely, clearing away any bad press surrounding ConAgra. You can check out the trail of events at the B.O. history and B.O. talk page and even on my talk page.

Then i came here to find that someone had made a deletion of material about the ConAgra recall of pot pies due to Salmonella poisoning. They claimed that it was "not a recall" (see the edit history) -- but it was a recall, so i rewrote the article again.

Now i find that someone has purged two different edits (one by someone else, one by me) that had consisted of material about ConAgra food recalls in the Great Value brand. The first edit which was purged was about the Great Value / ConAgra peanut butter recall of April, 2007. The one just deleted (which i wrote) concerned the Great Value / ConAgra turkey and chicken pot pie recall of October 2007. ConAgra made both the peanut butter and the pot pies for Wal-Mart. Both edits were deleted from the only page at WP on the Great Value brand (Wal-Mart house brand), which is an obscure "List of Wal-Mart brands" page.

I edit in all kinds of fields -- occultism, music, history, religion, medicine, you name it -- and it seems like i am running into some very odd deletions when the name "ConAgra" comes up. I am not accusing anyone -- just wondering what's going on. The third incident may be more Wal-Mart related than ConAgra related, but the point of this notice is that i am now aware that news stories that are unfavurable to ConAgra are a bit of a pain to edit, due to "helping hands syndrome."

As for names -- user names are nothing. It's the pattern of editing that is of greater interest to me.

catherine yronwode, my real name and my real user name. Catherineyronwode 02:19, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

In my view, as far as Wikipedia goes, usernames do matter. Real names don't. We don't defer to someone's authority, where they work, what their PhD is in or how many years of schooling they've had on the subject. All we have to prove we're serious editors is our edit histories, talk pages, occasional RfAs and edit counts. We use them to distinguish the astroturfers from the genuine editor. And while you still haven't named me, I think it's clear you're referring to me when you talk about deletion of material regarding whether or not the recall was a recall.

For the record: the pot pie incident began as a consumer advisory on Tuesday, progressed into ConAgra issuing a retailer-voluntary recall (ConAgra asked retailers not to sell them) on Thursday morning, then late Thursday night a manufacturer-voluntary recall (ConAgra told retailers to stop selling). I edited exclusively off of the referenced AP article to reflect this progression, and to reflect the AP story stated the decision to issue the advisory (and not recall) was a joint decision by the USDA and ConAgra. At the time of my edit the manufacturer-recall had not been issued yet. This is what the article, date-stamped Thursday morning, said: "Even though the pot pies have not (my emphasis) been recalled, Childs said ConAgra asked stores to pull all the pies with the identifying "P-9" code on them from store shelves and not sell them."

So there are two issues at hand: One is you questioning my facts, which is perfectly legitimate. To be fair, by the time you checked the text the recall had been issued. This AP story explains the progression I've mentioned. So my edits were factually correct for the facts given at the time. What I did not appreciate was the second issue where you painted my edits as being part of "something fishy", which in the end is questioning my integrity as an editor. In the end, no harm, no foul. I would only advise you that the next time, be very specific--cite names and diffs: otherwise you're painting everyone with the same brush stroke. Accusing someone of astroturfing is serious, and a thin accusation like that is very easily interpreted as a personal attack without underlying evidence.--Dali-Llama 04:28, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I am sorry if i ruffled your feathers. It was the fact that there was an editor actually calling himself ConAgra that had caught my eye. I was not making any accusations against you, merely noting for my own future reference the strange edits i had run into when working on ConAgra-related items. I understand and accept your explanation of the timeline of the edits you made here and i apologize for antagonizing you, which was not my intention. cat Catherineyronwode 11:52, 15 October 2007 (UTC

There is an anonymous edit on 00:34, 25 April 2009 from 68.227.167.98 that removes a large portion of the criticism on environmental issues, leaving only positive information under environmental "criticism". The text that was there is maybe not the best, but it is better than nothing in my opinion. ConAgra was recently ranked 497 out of 500 companies in Newsweek's ranking, which brought this to my attention. Matt13 (talk) 02:21, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

ConAgra slaugherhouse operations

ConAgra features extremely poorly in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, so I have incorporated some relevant information from this best-selling book that I think the general public should know about. Ivankinsman (talk) 18:38, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

There's a difference between mentioning Schlosser discusses ConAgra and including a potpourri of miscellaneous facts. You're inserting a "corporate history" paragraph which is not located in the right place. I've removed it until it can be included in the corporate history. At the same time, NPOV is an issue when this is an anecdotal account of a writer--at the same time these conditions may not be the same for all ConAgra plants, they may also be the same for all meat-packing plants in the US (IE: singling out ConAgra one way or another). I've added disclosure to mitigate that, but I still think it would deserve further scrutiny from other editors (especially since Schlosser's book is a purpose-driven account, and not an academic source--I'm not even sure it meets WP:RS). In the meantime, I think disclosure as Schlosser's own account (and not an argument of how this is systemic) is sufficient for the time being.--Dali-Llama (talk) 19:26, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Chun King chow mein

A couple generations ago, when no one i'd ever met knew what a wok is, but chow mein and chop suey from Chinese-American-operated restaurants were available in many cities, this company was apparently the parent of Chun King-brand shelf-stable pseudo-Chinese food. IIRC, one product was a pair of cans of the same diameter; the consumer would break whatever mechanism made them stay stacked one on top of the other, open both cans, heat the wet contents of one and serve it on top of the deep-fried "chow mein noodles" in the other can.
Stan Freberg advertised for them and WP notes the

ABC special: Stan Freberg Presents: The Chun King Chow Mein Hour: Salute to the Chinese New Year (February 1962)

One of his ads was set in an elevator. The camera is looking over heads as the doors open, and Freburg himself gets in. He starts pitching the Chun King product as a break from more white-bread-Euro-American foods, probably picking especially on spaghetti, IIRC. The elevator operator keeps asking him to face the front of the car. None of the passengers say anything. Finally the doors open, and the other camera is looking past his back into the car. All the passengers have Chinese features.
Chun King (Chung King was the WWII-era Western name for Chongqing, the KMT's wartime de-facto capital) was an institution, whose memory has some Web presence but no effective WP one. That's a shame.
--Jerzy•t 04:01, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Neutrality dispute?

There is a neutrality-dispute tag at the top of he article, but I don't see any discussion here about the neutrality of the article. I see some mention of an "editing pattern", but that's about it. Can anyone shed light on the controversy? Thanks! Oliepedia (talk) 15:02, 27 July 2008 (UTC)
The neutrality-dispute tag should be moved to the section or sections in question, and not be posted over the entire article. Deanlaw (talk) 22:48, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

I would guess that the neutrality dispute may additionally be a result of the article's composition. Roughly three-quarters of the article address product recalls and controversy (see WP:UNDUE: "An article should not give undue weight to any aspects of the subject, but should strive to treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject."). For such a massive food producer, the article sans controversy sections is little more than a stub. I would encourage the expansion of the non-alarmist sections of the article. 128.61.56.41 (talk) 01:35, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Since a lot of the controversies are product-specific, why not either just merge the controversies with whatever article covers the product and perhaps just leave a quick mention with a link? It seems like any time I view a talk page for a disputed article, there's no happy medium. So many of the articles here seem so biased, too; I do not have the time to research so much (M.S. degree programs and all), but I can tell you that this particular article could be expanded to OBJECTIVELY discuss their veterans' program or some more of the philanthropic programs they participate in. 67.54.234.200 (talk) 15:15, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Here's an idea: what if three-quarters of their history is controversial? Our local Peavey miller sold to ConAgra in the 1980s, and all the employees claimed the company had been, "bought by the Japs". They didn't know anything about ConAgra except that they made it a white male company. Only when there were threats of civil rights lawsuits did they begrudgingly hire black employees, and then in the 2000s did they cross the final frontier to hire women. They satisfy their minority hiring requirement by bringing them in seasonally for around $6.50 - $7.00 an hour for back-breaking work twelve hours a day, putting them on brooms and shovels, putting the on 20 foot ladders with no support and minimally required safety equipment (a respirator and a hard hat so you don't bust your head open when you fall off the ladder). They talk to employees like dogs, in meetings management reports one fall a week, employees are not allowed to go to the bathroom, so during flour spills employees will get disguised in a deep pile of flour for recirculation and urinate (because the flour and the sweat makes a glue that allows your pants to stand up on their own when you get home), and when management was asked by a completely anonymous party in an outside location why they relate to employees the way they do, the management member gets indignant and says, "Employees are a liability," clearly a taught and practiced company mantra. Do you really want to support and allow a company with an attitude about the employees (without whom they wouldn't operate) like that. When I read some of the quotes about big ugly brick buildings, I wasn't surprised. There is so much controversy in this article, because that is just the tip of the iceberg.--Longbow1212 (talk) 15:14, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Number of employees

According to the article ConAgra has 17 employees as of March 2009. Is this supposed to be 17,000 or if it just standard vandalism? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikizeta (talk • contribs) 04:17, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Edits & Updates Requested by ConAgra Foods

Hi! My name is Stephanie Childs. I'm the director of corporate communication with ConAgra Foods. As part of my work, I'm reaching out to the Wiki community to request some edits and updates to the ConAgra Foods Wiki page. As we have new information to share or changes are made in our business, you may also see updates and requests from other members of my team, including Shelby Stoolman.

Below are some of the requested edit and updates we'd like made to the ConAgra Foods page along with supporting information for those changes.

Update 1: Company Description

Current Copy

"From the first paragraph: “ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America's largest packaged foods companies. ConAgra's products are available in supermarkets, as well as restaurants and food service establishments. Its headquarters are located in Omaha, Nebraska. ConAgra also formerly had locations in Irvine, California, and Downers Grove, Illinois (which were both headquarters of the former company, Beatrice Foods).”

Recommended Copy

"ConAgra Foods makes many leading brands, including: Healthy Choice, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, PAM, and Banquet, among others. ConAgra Foods consumer brands are found in 96 percent of U.S. households and 24 are ranked first or second in their category. ConAgra Foods also has a very significant presence in commercial food products and is one of the nation’s leading specialty potato providers to restaurants and other foodservice establishments."

Support/Rationale

This is the current company description from the ConAgra Foods website: http://media.conagrafoods.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=202310&p=aboutus

Update 2: Governance

Current Copy

“The board of directors are: Mogens Bay, Stephen Butler, John Chain, Steven Goldstone, W.G. Jurgensen, Ruth Ann Marshall, Gary Rodkin, Ronald Roskens, Andrew Schinler and Kenneth Stinson.”

Recommended Copy

“The board of directors are: Mogens C. Bay, Stephen G. Butler, Steven F. Goldstone, Joie A. Gregor, Rajive Johri, W. G. Jurgensen, Richard H. Lenny, Ruth Ann Marshall, Gary M. Rodkin, Andrew J. Schindler and Kenneth E. Stinson.”

Support/Rationale

The current copy is outdated. The accurate list of ConAgra Foods' Board of Directors is maintained online at: http://company.conagrafoods.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=202310&p=irol-govboard

Update 3: Company Website

Current Copy

From the quick info box: "Website: www.conagra.com"

Recommended Copy

"Website: www.conagrafoods.com"

Support/Rational The most accurate URL for ConAgra Foods is www.conagrafoods.com.

Thanks, Stephanie

SChilds ConAgraFoods (talk) 18:43, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

I didn't feel good about replacing the lede paragraph with company-written text, especially since it seems a bit promotional in tone. I have, however, made the factual updates you requested. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 15:59, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for making those revisions and for your feedback regarding the lede paragraph. We'll certainly take that into consideration for other recommended additions and revisions. (ps - I have a new username that is now in compliance w/Wiki's guidelines.) Stephanie Childs (talk) 18:43, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

I deleted a portion of the genetically modified foods subsection of the article:

"As a result, there is a growing boycott of their products across North America."

Conagra is primarily a North American food company, and using a european environmentalist organization as a reference to a "growing boycott" doesn't reflect the fact that conagra is still growing. If there were a growing boycott, sales would fall.

Charitable Activities - New Information

Hello! I'd like to provide additional information about ConAgra Foods' charitable activities to update our Wiki page. Just for clarity, many of these efforts are led by the ConAgra Foods Foundation, which is funded primarily by ConAgra Foods. In the current copy, the Foundation is referred to as the 'Feeding Children Better Foundation." "Feeding Children Better" was actually the name of a particular initiative launched by the ConAgra Foods Foundation in 1993.

Under the section titled "Charitable activities," this is the current copy:

"ConAgra runs the ConAgra Foods Feeding Children Better Foundation, a charitable organization designed to raise hunger awareness. The Foundation is also the national sponsor of Kids Cafes which provides nutritious meals to children from low-income families.[5]"

To reflect more recent efforts, here is some suggested copy.

Paragraph 1

"In 1993, ConAgra Foods and the ConAgra Foods Foundation started working with Feeding America, formerly known as America’s Second Harvest, donating both food and funds to the organization. Six years later, the company formed its Feeding Children Better initiative, focused solely on ending child hunger in the United States."

source: http://www.conagrafoodsfoundation.org/about-conagra-foods-foundation/conagra-foods-foundation-history.jsp

Paragraph 2
"In 2003, the Foundation’s Feeding Children Better initiative received a Golden Halo award for its partnership with Feeding America, then known as America’s Second Harvest. One of the initiatives included funding a public service campaign with the Ad Council. ConAgra Foods Foundation also funded Kids Cafes nationwide . Today, ConAgra Foods Foundation’s is one of Feeding America’s leading donors."

source #1: Golden Halo Award - http://www.causemarketingforum.com/page.asp?ID=77
source #2: Ad Council: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G_g9I0uUcI
source #3: Kids Cafes - http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-19454742_ITM (this reference is currently being used)
source #4: Feeding America's leading donors - http://feedingamerica.org/partners/financial-partners/leadership-partners.aspx

Paragraph 3
"ConAgra Foods Foundation is the national sponsor of Operational Frontline, a program operated by Share Our Strength to teach children and families how to prepare nutritious meals on a tight budget."

source: National Sponsor - http://operationfrontline.org/ (see bottom of page for National Sponsor info)

Paragraph 4
"In 1998, the ConAgra Foods Foundation became a founding member of the American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program. ConAgra Foods Foundation also provided an additional $200,000 to the Red Cross in the wake of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti."

source #1: Founding member reference and $200,000 donation info - http://omaharedcross.blogspot.com/2010/02/conagra-foods-foundation-joins-ellen.html
source #2: Additional info regarding Red Cross' Annual Disaster Giving Program - http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.86f46a12f382290517a8f210b80f78a0/?vgnextoid=859131cd6206e110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

Stephanie Childs (talk) 18:04, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Bit of a conflict of interest. Brumak (talk) 07:44, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

Meh, I saw the request edit on the COIN board and came to help, but there are a few issues:

• YouTube is not a reliable source
• The company website is not a reliable source
• Awards are somewhat promotional, unless the award itself is truly notable
• There are somewhat promotional copy-edits that would be easy to fix

Would you mind taking a crack at a trimmed-down, single paragraph, revised copy based only on what's available in secondary sources? I'll nix out the request edit for now, so it goes out of the queue, but you can re-activate it when you're ready. User:King4057 (COI Disclosure on User Page) 18:49, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

Note from ConAgra Foods

{{request edit}}  Not done for now:

• Feedback provided for revision. Please remove "tld" in the edit request to re-activate request when ready. User:King4057 (COI Disclosure on User Page) 21:44, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm Lanie Friedman and I work at ConAgra Foods.

I don't feel that I'm crossing a line when I say that this article's current state doesn't really reflect ConAgra's history. Most certainly, it's fair to say that there are some undue-weight issues here.

Since I don't want to be necessarily making work for a lot of people, this is what I propose.

• Here is a suggested intro paragraph that I've written for consideration. My rationale for expanding it is that, unlike a lot of other large food companies, people don't necessarily pair the parent company with its products in our case. It also makes the two distinct lines of business clearer.

ConAgra Food Inc. (NYSE – CAG) is a North American food company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska(1). The company serves commercial and consumer markets.(2)

The company’s consumer foods division makes and sells products for retail and offers brands such as Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hunt’s, Orville Redenbacher’s and PAM Cooking Spray (3).

The commercial foods division produces specialty foods and flavorings for commercial and food service customers worldwide under the brands Lamb Weston, Angela Mia, Award Cuisine and J. Hungerford Smith among others (4).

In 2011, ConAgra was ranked #200 on the FORTUNE 500 list(5) and had revenue of $12.3 billion (6).

Sources are:

1) http://cdn.businessweek.com/conagra-foods/jobs/

2) http://company.conagrafoods.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=202310&p=aboutus

3) http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/brands/index.jsp

4) http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/brands/index.jsp#hiddenBrands

5) http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/299.html

6) 2011 ConAgra Foods Annual Report, http://mobular.net/ccbn/7/3241/4526/index.html

• To be frank, there are a lot of accuracy and emphasis issues in this entry. Rather than bother people here with all of them, my plan over time is to work with colleagues to deliver what I hope to be a Wikipedia-compatible ConAgra Foods article in my Sandbox. Inasmuch as accuracy allows, we will do our best to respect the material I see here. I fully understand that you might take some of what I contribute there or none at all. Nevertheless, please take this as a good-faith effort to meet this community halfway. Many thanks. --LanieFr (talk) 22:13, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

To add references, put the link between<ref> and </ref> or just like this "[www.source.com source]" For example, "ConAgra has $12.3 billion in revenue.[1] or ConAgra has $12.3 billion in revenue

Hope this helps. User:King4057 (COI Disclosure on User Page) 18:53, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

Just a note: the LEAD paragraph is supposed to summarize the article, so some of the details you're proposing (Fortune 500 company, specific brands, etc.) would be better in the body of the article. A sandbox would be a good idea, as it would cut down on clutter here on the talk page. It would allow you to request an edit, using a Diff view of your sandbox to show how the article would change. ~Adjwilley (talk) 20:23, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

{{request edit}}

How is this, then?

ConAgra Food Inc. (NYSE – CAG) is an American food company that serves commercial and consumer markets . The company’s consumer foods division makes and sells food and cooking products to be sold in retail markets. The commercial foods division produces specialty foods and flavorings for commercial and food service customers.

In 2011, ConAgra had revenue of $12.3 billion. ConAgra is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska and has 39 U.S. manufacturing facilities and three international manufacturing facilities

Let me know. --LanieFr (talk) 13:39, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

Lanie, according to WP:LEAD, the lead of the article is suppose to summarize the entire thing, including and specifically all the major controversies. Improving the lead could only reasonably lead to further highlighting damaging information to the company... On the other hand, I do wonder if the article could be better balanced or if ConAgra may find overt factual errors and other issues in all this criticism. User:King4057 23:29, 1 July 2012 (UTC)