not adequately summarize key points of its contents . please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article . please discuss this issue on the article s talk page . july 2015 conagra foods inc. conagra foods former headquarters in omaha nebraska . type public traded as nyse cag s & p 500 component industry food processing founded 1919 as nebraska consolidated mills 1 1971 as conagra foods headquarters chicago illinois united states key people sean connolly president & ceo products packaged foods revenue us 17.7 billion 2014 net income us 468 million 2012 2 number of employees 26 100 2012 2 website www.conagrafoods.com conagra foods inc. is an american packaged foods company headquartered in chicago illinois . conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets restaurants and food service establishments . contents 1 history 2 governance 3 products 4 partnership with feeding america against child hunger 5 criticism 5.1 environmental issues 5.2 labor issues 5.3 fraud and bribery 5.4 demolition of historic site 6 genetically modified food 7 product incidents 7.1 2002 e. coli outbreak 7.2 2006 7 salmonella outbreak 7.3 diacetyl 7.4 2007 salmonella outbreak 8 2009 slim jim plant explosion 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit the previous conagra foods logo which was used until june 2009 . conagra was founded in 1919 1 by frank little and alva kinney who brought together four grain mills as nebraska consolidated mills ncm with its headquarters in grand island nebraska . the headquarters were moved to omaha in 1922 . the company ran at a profit until 1936 when kinney retired . in 1940 the company began producing flour at its own mill and in 1942 ventured into the livestock feed business . that year president r.s. dickinson opened the company s first out of state facility in alabama with a flour mill and animal feed plant . after researching new uses for its flour ncm funded the establishment of the duncan hines brand of cake mixes in 1951 as a way to market more flour . this venture was very successful leading the company to its current place as the third largest flour miller in the u.s. however this did not lead ncm to consider other food ventures and instead it sold its assets in duncan hines to procter & gamble in 1956 . as american households purchased more and more prepared and instant foods in the 1950s and 1960s ncm chose not to expand into the businesses that used its flour instead turning in the opposite direction and focusing more on raw foods like poultry and expanding its livestock feed business . in 1971 nebraska consolidated mills changed its name to conagra a portmanteau of con for consolidated and agra similarly short in english for agriculture . the 1970s brought the company to the brink of ruin as it lost money expanding into the fertilizer catfish and pet product industries and as commodity speculation wiped out conagra s margins on raw foods . in 1974 c. michael mike harper an experienced food industry executive took over the firm and brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy . nonetheless conagra s business model left it vulnerable to volatile commodity prices . in response the company set off on a two decade long buying spree purchasing over one hundred prepared food brands starting with its 1980 purchase of banquet foods . it moved heavily into the frozen food business and the packaged meat industry and then picked up a selection of other brands from firms like rjr nabisco and beatrice foods among others as the leveraged buyouts of the 1980s resulted in the divestiture or breakup of many major american consumer product firms . in 1993 alone it purchased 500 million in smaller firms and in 1998 it purchased another 480 million in brands from nabisco . on may 23 2001 conagra foods inc said it would restate its earnings for 1998 1999 and 2000 due to accounting and conduct matters at its united agri products cos unit . for fiscal 1998 revenues was cut from 24.27 billion to 24.19 billion . 3 on march 24 2005 conagra foods inc said the results for fiscal 2003 and 2004 would be restated to reflect a reduction in after tax profits of 150 million to 200 million in total . 4 on november 27 2012 conagra officials announced the company was purchasing ralcorp pending ralcorp shareholder approval for approximately 4.95 billion . stockholders of ralcorp holdings inc. would receive 90 per share . the deal completed in january 2013 and made conagra the largest private label packaged food business in the united states . 5 on july 14 2014 conagra announced that it had acquired taimei potato industry limited a potato processor in shangdu inner mongolia . this acquisition expands conagra foods lamb weston operations in a market that has growing demand for frozen potato products . 6 on october 1 2015 conagra announced that it would cut about 1 500 jobs and relocate its headquarters to chicago as part of a restructuring plan . 7 on november 18 2015 conagra announced it was spinning off its lamb weston division into a separate company that will be based in kennewick washington . they also announced that conagra foods will be renamed conagra brands when they move hq to chicago in 2016 . thomas werner unrelated to the television producer and boston red sox owner and timothy mclevish were named executive and executive chairman . 8 the move of headquarters from omaha to chicago was completed in late june 2016 with the opening of their new hq at the merchandise mart building . it is the first time since 1922 that conagra has not been headquartered in omaha and the first time in the company s history dating back to its 1919 founding that the headquarters will not be in the state of nebraska . governance edit 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 . 9 products edit main article list of conagra brands conagra produces a wide array of food products including cooking oil frozen dinners hot cocoa hot dogs peanut butter and many others . some of conagra s major brands include hunt s healthy choice marie callender s orville redenbacher slim jim snack food reddi wip egg beaters hebrew national p.f. chang s home menu and bertolli ready meals . partnership with feeding america against child hunger edit the nonprofit conagra foods foundation has pledged a five year commitment of 10 million to feeding america to fight child hunger . additionally conagra foods founded the child hunger ends here campaign in 2013 that would donate up to 3 million meals equivalent to feeding america by donating one meal for each code submitted to the campaign s website by consumers . 10 criticism edit environmental issues edit conagra has been criticized for its lack of response to human influenced global climate change . a 2006 report by ceres a non profit organization that works to address global climate change and other sustainability issues entitled corporate governance and climate change making the connection measures how 100 leading global companies are responding to global warming . companies in the report were evaluated on a 0 to 100 scale . conagra scored a total of 4 points the lowest of any of the food companies rated . 11 in a 2009 ranking by newsweek conagra ranked 342nd out of america s 500 largest corporations in terms of overall environmental score . 12 in 2003 2004 conagra participated in a minnesota pollution control agency voluntary investigation and clean up program . through the program the company cleaned up a property previously used for lithium ore processing and constructed a new 80 000 square foot 7 000 m2 office warehouse building . 13 this voluntary program offers future liability protection . 14 on january 7 2014 a california superior court found that conagra and its co defendants were liable in creating a public nuisance due to lead based paint the companies sold . ten local governments in california filed the suit and the court ordered conagra nl industries and sherwin williams to pay 1.15 billion to remove or abate the lead in homes located in those cities and counties . 15 although conagra never produced paint it assumed the liabilities of w. p. fuller & co. a san francisco based paint producer through a series of acquisitions . 16 labor issues edit in may 2003 conagra and its subsidiary gilroy foods agreed to pay 1.5 million to settle charges of hiring discrimination brought by the equal employment opportunity commission eeoc . the charges involved a july 1999 teamsters strike at a plant in king city california then owned by basic vegetable products lp but later purchased by conagra . in august 2001 the company negotiated with the union an end to the two year strike with a new contract that would recall workers based on seniority . however the recall process excluded workers who were on leave at the time of the purchase including those out due to work injury or pregnancy . others were denied jobs due to a history of previous injury or illness despite their having no restrictions on returning to work . according to the eeoc most of the 39 workers who were excluded from the recall process had been working at the plant for 10 to 30 years and were primarily hispanic and female . 17 the company s greeley colorado plant had been cited almost 10 times from 1999 to 2002 for violating worker safety . 18 in july 2004 six people were killed in a shooting inside the conagra foods plant in kansas city kansas . 19 fraud and bribery edit in 1997 conagra pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges that its peavey grain unit illegally sprayed water on stored grain to increase its weight and value and also bribed federal inspectors . the company agreed to pay 8.3 million to resolve the charges which included a 4.4 million criminal fine 3.45 million as compensation for illegal profits and 450 000 to reimburse the u.s. department of agriculture for storage and investigation expenses . conagra had also paid 2 million to settle a related civil case filed by a group of indiana farmers . 20 multinational monitor a corporate watchdog organization named conagra one of the top 100 corporate criminals of the 1990s . 21 demolition of historic site edit in 1988 conagra threatened to relocate from omaha to denver chicago or minneapolis if the city didn t help find a new location for its headquarters . charles harper the chief executive of conagra at the time requested that the city of omaha demolish the historic site one of the largest on the national register of historic places . omaha approved the demolition of over 20 historic structures in jobbers canyon historic district a 19th century warehouse district along the banks of the missouri river in downtown omaha nebraska . the demolition made room for a sprawling new corporate campus and headquarters and prompted protests and lawsuits from historic preservationists . harper had described the structures as some big ugly red brick buildings . 22 the national trust for historic preservation asked that the historic legacy of a city and region not be held hostage to the narrow corporate preferences of a single commercial enterprise but conagra refused to reconsider . the jobbers canyon district was adjacent to another historic district the old market which has proved to be an important center of cultural tourist and residential development in omaha . omaha s then planning director marty shukert said it was more important to keep the city s