SYSCO Corporation is proud to announce Campbell's Soup Company (Camden, NJ) as the company's 2006 Supplier of the Year. The honor was presented at SYSCO's 12th Annual Supplier Recognition Awards Ceremony in Houston, Texas. This is the first time that Campbell Soup Company has won SYSCO's Supplier of the Year honor. This year's honor also represents Campbell's seventh appearance as a Top 10 Gold Partner and their ninth year as a member of SYSCO's Top 100 Suppliers.

In addition to Campbell Soup Company, the remaining 2006 Gold Partner suppliers, in order, included McCain Foods USA (Lisle, IL); ConAgra Foods

Lamb Weston (Eagle, ID); Prairie Packaging Inc. (Bedford Park, IL); Tyson Foods (Springdale, AK); SCA Tissue North America (South Glens Falls, NY); Lyons Magnus (Fresno, CA); Sugar Foods (Sun Valley, CA); Pilgrim's Pride (Pittsburg, TX); and HJ Heinz (Pittsburgh, PA). The 2006 Supplier Recognition Awards Ceremony recipients were selected from a group of more than 2,000 eligible suppliers located across the world. All finalists were selected based on input from SYSCO's broadline distribution companies in the United States and Canada and the company's corporate merchandising services and supply chain services departments.

Three companies also received SYSCO's Third Annual Heritage Award, presented to the top Women and Minority Owned Businesses that supply SYSCO Brand products. This year's recipients included Gold Medalist Renaissance Man International (Savannah, GA), Silver Medalist Carla's Pasta (South Windsor, CT) and Bronze Medalist Best Maid Cookie Company (River Falls, WI).