Key executives at Maple Leaf Foods Inc. received smaller paycheques in 2008, a year president and CEO Michael McCain described as the most difficult in company history as it endured a tainted meat scandal.
Canada’s biggest food processor filed its management proxy circular ahead of its annual meeting later this month, and the details show that McCain saw his total compensation cut to $4.4 million from $8 million in 2007.
Other executives also faced cuts, but the depth of the gouges depended on their position in the company.
For example, president and chief operating officer Scott McCain kept most of his compensation, earning $2 million for his work in 2008, down from $2.6 million.
Both executive vice-president and chief financial officer Michael Vels and Richard Lan, president and chief operating officer of the foods group, took $700,000 pay cuts. Vels was paid nearly $2 million while Lan received $3.3 million last year.
Maple Leaf reported sales of $5.2 billion in 2008 as the food processor was hurt by the massive recall of packaged meats after some were found to be tainted with a deadly bacteria.
Hundreds of Maple Leaf products were recalled after dozens of cases of listeriosis, including at least 20 deaths, were linked to cold cuts produced at a Maple Leaf plant in Toronto.
The company estimated that the recall cost it an estimated $59 million to $69 million before taxes.
Maple Leaf will hold its annual meeting on April 29.
Yesterday, the company said it was postponing the planned sale of its pork processing plant in Burlington until early 2010 after "active negotiations with several prospective purchasers" failed to result in a deal.
"The current economic conditions and credit markets have created a less than ideal environment to sell any business," said Vels, chief financial officer of Maple Leaf.
"There is no immediate urgency to selling the Burlington business. It is an efficient and profitable business and we want to ensure we negotiate an offer that recognizes the appropriate value for the business and meets the expectations of our shareholders."
Maple Leaf Foods decided to sell the Burlington pork plant in late 2006 as the company refocused its business on value-added meat, meals and bakery businesses.
Maple Leaf is a multibillion-dollar food giant whose Dempster’s bread, Maple Leaf bacon and ham, Shopsy’s, Maple Leaf and Burns hot dogs, Nutriwhip toppings and Tenderflake lard are well-known Canadian brands.
Formed in the early 1990s from the merger of Maple Leaf Mills and Canada Packers, Maple Leaf employs 24,000 people and has operations across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia.
The company produces prepared meats and other consumer foods, as well as animal feed and fresh pork.
It also owns Canada Bread Co., which produces the Dempster’s and Olivieri brands.
