Food Roundup: Pilgrim's Loses Big, Smithfield Plant Unionized, Price Hikes Yield Higher Revenues, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Pilgrim's Pride Lost Nearly $1 Billion in 2008 -- The chicken producer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. Its annual report had been held up because of ongoing talks with lenders. [Source: AP]

World's Largest Pork Plant is Unionized -- Meat cutters at Smithfield Foods' Tar Heel, N.C. plant voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers. The vote ends 10 years of conflict between the company and the plant's workers.[Source: Reuters]

Price Increases Boost Food Companies' Revenues -- Goldman Sach analyst Judy Hong says revenues among packaged-food makers rose by about 5 percent in November. Volumes slipped by 2 percent. [Source: AP]

Big Coke Bottler May Warn of Continued Industry Pressure -- Coca-Cola Enterprises, the largest bottler of Coke products, will update analysts and investors next week. More cost cuts are anticipated. [Source: Dow Jones]