Garner-based Butterball, the nation's largest turkey processor, said Wednesday it is expanding into the pork market by buying an Illinois company that specializes in bacon, hams and deli meats.

Butterball's acquisition of Gusto Packing Co. adds about 500 employees to Butterball's workforce of more than 5,000 people in three states.

With the deal, the family-oriented Butterball brand also acquires Gusto's risqué motto: "Eat More Pork, Be A Better Lover."

Butterball spokeswoman Stephanie Llorente said Butterball has no plans to change Gusto's operations. Gusto employees are expected to remain in their current jobs, Butterball said in a release.

On top of the great turkey deals you can snag right now at Triangle grocery stores, you can score an additional rebate when you purchase Butterball, Honeysuckle White or Shady Brook Farms turkeys.

The Butterball deal:

Buy a turkey and get five $1/1 coupons on Butterball items. Not as good as cold hard cash, but if you're buying a Butterball anyway, you might as well get your coupons. All it will cost you is a stamp and the $1 coupons might prove valuable at the next Super Double coupon event we have.

Click HERE to read all the fine print and to print a rebate form. In the meantime, hang on to your UPC and your cash register receipt. The rebate form was also available in the Nov. 11 Smart Source insert.

The Honeysuckle White and Shady Brook Farms deal:

Buy a turkey and the Blu-Ray Combo Pack version of  Disney-Pixar's Brave and receive a $5 rebate by mail, a nice perk if you were already planning on buying the movie.

Click HERE to print a Honeysuckle White rebate form and read all the fine print.

Click HERE to print a Shady Brook Farms rebate form and read the fine print.

But heads up: Be sure to hang on to the proof of purchase tab from the movie along with the cash register receipts from both the movie and the turkey.

Allow six to eight weeks for your check to arrive by mail.

Hoke County sheriff's detectives and animal welfare investigators have spent the day looking for evidence that turkeys were tortured and mistreated at a Butterball facility in Shannon, about 90 miles south of Raleigh.

The investigators arrived at the plant at 8 a.m. this morning in response to allegations by an animal rights group that Butterball employees beat, kicked, threw and stomped the birds.

Garner-based Butterball, the nation's largest producer of turkey products, said it does not tolerate cruelty to animals and is cooperating with the investigation.

If you happen to buy a Butterball (fresh or frozen) turkey for Thanksgiving this year, here's an offer you might be interested in.

Garner-based Butterball will close its turkey facility in Longmont, Colorado at the end of the year and is seeks to lower operating costs in the face of rising feed prices.

"After long and careful consideration, amid record high ingredient costs, our company has come to the conclusion that we must take these steps in order to improve our overall effectiveness.” said Rod Brenneman, Butterball's CEO.

Brenneman said government ethanol subsidies and record high fuel prices for much of 2010 and 2011 contributed to a major increase in operating costs at the plant.

Brenneman took over as CEO earlier this month.

He is a 22-year veteran of Seaboard Corp. of Kansas, the holding company that acquired a 50 percent stake in Butterball in December. Maxwell Farms owns the other half of Butterball.

Brenneman warned in an interview earlier this month that Butterball, like all poultry and pork producers, needs to be more efficient and lower operating costs.

Garner-based Butterball announced this afternoon that it has named Rod Brenneman, a long-time executive with one of the turkey producer's parent companies, as CEO.

The move comes four months after the previous CEO, Keith Shoemaker, resigned without explanation.

Brenneman is a 22-year veteran of Seaboard Corp. of Kansas, the holding company which acquired a 50 percent stake in Butterball in December. Maxwell Farms owns the other half of the company.

Seaboard's investment came after Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, agreed to sell its interest in Butterball.

Butterball has donated more than 18,000 pounds of turkey to charitable organizations in North Carolina and Alabama to help victims of the recent severe weather in both of those states.

Butterball is the largest turkey producer in the nation. The company employs 80 people in Garner, where it moved its headquarters in 2008.

“Our thoughts and concerns go out to the many individuals who were impacted by the devastating tornadoes and floods, and to those across the country who struggle to provide food for their families,” said Walter Pelletier, president of Maxwell Farms. “Butterball is a proud supporter of hunger relief and we are thankful for the opportunity to join with such valiant organizations that help meet the needs of the community not only in times of distress, but every day.”

Butterball donated more than 8,000 pounds of turkey products to Alabama organizations and more than 7,500 pounds of products to the Food Bank of Central & Eatern North Carolina and 2,500 pounds to Warren's Chapel Original Free Will Baptist Church in Micro, N.C.

Garner-based Butterball announced today that its CEO and president, Keith Shoemaker, resigned on Monday.

The company didn't give a reason for Shoemaker's departure. No immediate replacement has been named.

In the interim, members of Butterball's board will assume the CEO responsibilities, the company said in a release.

Shoemaker's resignation comes seven months after Smithfield Foods agreed to sell its interest in Butterball.

Butterball is now a joint venture between Maxwell Farms and Seaboard Corp. of Kansas.
 
“Butterball thanks Mr. Shoemaker for his valuable service and for successfully guiding the company through last year’s change in ownership as well as his role in making the company what it is today,” said Walter Pelletier, president of Maxwell Farms and board member of Butterball, in the release.
 
Steven Bresky, president and CEO of Seaboard, said in the release that Shoemaker's departure wouldn't result in any major operational changes. 

“During this transition we do not anticipate major changes in any areas of production or employment," he said.  "It is business as usual.”
 

Butterball has partnered with the National Salt Reduction Initiative and pledged to reduce the amount of sodium in packaged and restaurant foods by 25 percent by 2014.

The company, which is based in Garner, already has many products that meet the sodium guidelines outlined by the NSRI. However, the company is working to lower the sodium content of other products.

Today, the company said it will reduce the sodium levels of its turkey ham and turkey pastrami by 20 percent by 2012. And, it will reduce the sodium in other deli products on average by 10 percenet.

Maxwell Farms and Seaboard Corp. announced today that they have finalized their purchase of Butterball from a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods.

The deal was first announced in September.

Smithfield sold its 49 percent interest to Maxwell, which already owned the other 51 percent of Butterball. Maxwell, in turn, sold a 50 percent stake in Butterball to Seaboard of Kansas.

Smithfield, the world's largest pork producer, gave Maxwell Farms an ultimatum in June. It said it would unload its shares of Butterball if Maxwell didn't accept its $200 million buyout offer.

Butterball employs 80 people in Garner, where it moved its headquarters in 2008.

Smithfield sold its Butterball stake for $175 million. Seaboard paid $177.5 million for half of Butterball.