TSX: MFI
    www.mapleleaf.comTORONTO, Dec. 18 /CNW/ - Maple Leaf Foods (TSX: MFI) is pleased to
announce that Messrs. John Bragg and Geoff Beattie have been appointed to the
Company's Board of Directors, effective December 17, 2008.
    "We are delighted that Mr. Bragg and Mr. Beattie have agreed to join the
Maple Leaf Board," said Wallace McCain, Chairman, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. "They
bring a vast array of expertise and insight in their respective fields and I'm
confident that they will both make an outstanding contribution to our Board."
    John Bragg is a director of Sobey's Inc., Empire Company Limited and the
Toronto-Dominion Bank. He has served on the boards of many Canadian companies
including Imasco, Shaw Communications and Maritime Life Assurance Co. He is
President of Bragg Lumber Co. and Cherryfield Foods Inc. and Chairman of
several Canadian and U.S. companies including Bragg Communications, EastLink
Cable Systems, and BioSan Laboratories. Mr. Bragg is an Officer of the Order
of Canada and the Chancellor of Mount Allison University. Mr. Bragg recently
resigned from the Canada Bread Company, Limited Board of Directors, where he
served since 1995.
    Geoff Beattie brings to this role over 20 years of experience in law,
investment banking and securities. He is President of the Woodbridge Company
Limited in Toronto, where he has served since 1998. Previously he was a
Partner at Tory Tory DesLauriers & Binnington, where he practiced corporate
and securities law for eight years, and prior to that was Vice President,
Investment Banking at CIBC Wood Gundy. Mr. Beattie serves as Deputy Chairman
of Thomson Reuters, Chairman of CTVglobemedia, and is a Director of the Royal
Bank of Canada.

    Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a leading food processing company, headquartered
in Toronto, Canada. The Company employs approximately 23,500 people at its
operations across Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom and
Asia. The company had sales of $5.2 billion in 2007.