Smithfield shutting U.S. pork plant indefinitely, warns of meat shortages during pandemic

[turbinetree]

Source: Reuters

BUSINESS NEWS APRIL 12, 2020 / 12:20 PM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers.

Slaughterhouse shutdowns are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, crimping availability of meat at retail stores and leaving farmers without outlets for their livestock.

Smithfield extended the closure of its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, plant after initially saying it would idle temporarily for cleaning. The facility is one of the nation’s largest pork processing facilities, representing 4% to 5% of U.S. pork production, according to the company.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said on Saturday that 238 Smithfield employees had active cases of the new coronavirus, accounting for 55% of the state’s total. Noem and the mayor of Sioux Falls had recommended the company shut the plant, which has about 3,700 workers, for at least two weeks.

Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Tom Brown

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-meatpacking/smithfield-shutting-u-s-pork-plant-indefinitely-warns-of-meat-shortages-during-pandemic-idUSKCN21U0O7

[mr_lebowski]

1. Smithfield SUCKS as a company ... so I'm not going to lament this too much ...

Sorry for the workers who likely have no other opportunities, but I wish ill upon Smithfield as a corporation.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Smithfield is owned by Chinese now.

They bought it a few years ago. They have a US office.

[Me.]

53. Yep

all the hogs are shipped to china and then sent back here

[mahatmakanejeeves]

64. I have a hard time imagining this. Consider the logistics.

Do you have a source for this claim?

{edited}

Was Smithfield Foods Sold to China?

Smithfield Foods was sold to a Chinese company in 2013, but China won't be slaughtering and processing hogs raised in the U.S. and shipping them back to America.

DAVID MIKKELSON
PUBLISHED 8 JULY 2014

{snip}

Moreover, people engaged in that industry have told us that the notion of a Chinese-owned company raising hogs in the U.S., shipping them live all the way to China for slaughtering and processing, then exporting the meat back into the U.S. would be prohibitively cost-inefficient — especially since the slaughtering and processing infrastructures already exist in the U.S., and the Chinese domestic market for pork is far, far larger than the U.S. market for pork.

[Me.]

66. You're Right, They Kill Them First Before Shipping THem To China

“SMITHFIELD, Virginia (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods’ slaughterhouse in Virginia used to carve up pork for American sandwiches and holiday dinners. But workers now box up pig carcasses to ship to China, according to employees, local officials and industry sources.

The transformation at the Smithfield, Virginia, plant shows how the global meat industry is adapting to profit from African swine fever, a fatal pig disease that has killed millions of hogs in China and turned the world’s top pork consumer into a major meat importer.

Bought by China’s WH Group Ltd (0288.HK) six years ago for $4.7 billion, Smithfield Foods has retooled U.S. processing operations to direct meat to China, which produced half the world’s pork before swine fever decimated the industry. …

Since late spring, pigs trucked to the plant have been slaughtered and sliced into thirds for shipment to China, where Chinese workers process the carcasses further, company employees and industry sources told Reuters.”

www.reuters.com/article/us-china-swinefever-smithfield-foods-foc/at-smithfield-foods-slaughterhouse-china-brings-home-u-s-bacon-idUSKBN1XF0XC

And now Smothfield is closed completely

[mahatmakanejeeves]

68. But they don't send the hogs back to the US.

It's a one-way trip. The food is being exported from the United States.

PIGS WILL FLY

The United States exported 294.5 million kilograms of pork to China between January and August, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, more than in the whole of 2018.

Frozen carcasses accounted for about 20% of exports by weight from January to August, up from 0.3% during the same period in 2017, the data show.

Smithfield Foods was the top shipper this summer, sending at least 17.6 million kilograms of pork to China between June and September, according to Panjiva, a division of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Kansas-based Seaboard Corp (SEB.A) sold at least 5.3 million, Panjiva said. The firm noted its data does not capture all shipments.

[Me.]

69. Not Sure I Believe That

Best bet is to check packaging

[jpak]

2. Glad I stocked up on beans and rice

Yup

[Demovictory9]

3. good. Less cruelty to pigs. Eat lentils, beans, nuts, quinoa, tofu instead

[flibbitygiblets]

42. +1 Good nutrition important more than ever, especially for those at highest risk

This is something I wish health experts would emphasize more.

[Demovictory9]

50. exactly. Bacon's good for no one (human or animal)

[Coventina]

46. Agreed!!! n/t

[klook]

72. Yep. Been getting by without eating pig for at least 30 years now.

I can't really remember when I realized how unsustainable -- and disgusting -- it was.

Maybe the current situation will lead a few more people to discover they can live without eating pigs, cows, lambs, etc., and decide they even feel better with a healthier, less cruel diet.

[tavernier]

4. I think it's more like people tasted their briny ham

and tasteless bacon. Terrible. Waste of good pork.

[progree]

5. Reminds me of this incredible article: OSHA: employers don't have to record COVID-19 cases

Trump Administration Tells Employers Not To Worry About Recording COVID-19 Cases, Huffington Post, 4/11/20

The Trump administration announced Friday afternoon that employers outside of the health care industry generally won’t be required to record coronavirus cases among their workers, a decision that left some workplace safety advocates incredulous.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is classified as a recordable illness, meaning employers would have to notify the Occupational Safety and Health Administration when an employee gets sick from an exposure at work. But the nation’s top workplace safety agency now says the majority of U.S. employers won’t have to try to determine whether employees’ infections happened in the workplace unless it’s obvious.

... But if employers don’t have to try to figure out whether a transmission happened in the workplace, it could leave both them and the government in the dark about emerging hotspots in places like retail stores or meatpacking plants.

More: https://news.yahoo.com/osha-labor-department-coronavirus-cases-at-work-155001164.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. This requires some clarification.

OSHA is interested only in issues that are work-related. If you want to pick up a lawn mower and use it to trim your hedge, OSHA won't get involved. If you are an employer and you tell your employees that they have to pick up lawn mowers and use them to trim a hedge, then OSHA is extremely interested in hearing about this.

Or, if you are injured while setting off fireworks in your back yard, there's no cause for OSHA intervention. If you work at a fireworks-manufacturing plant and you are injured on the job, OSHA will look into that.

Work-related: they have jurisdiction.

Not work-related: they don't have jurisdiction.

If someone develops COVID-19 outside of a job, then OSHA does not have jurisdiction. If someone develops COVID-19 as a result of his employment, then OSHA does need to hear about this.

Try this:

OSHA National News Release
U.S. Department of Labor
April 10, 2020

U.S. Department of Labor Issues Enforcement Guidance For Recording Cases of COVID-19

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued interim guidance for enforcing OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements (29 CFR Part 1904) as it relates to recording cases of COVID-19.

Under OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, COVID-19 is a recordable illness, and employers are responsible for recording cases of COVID-19, if the case:

• Is confirmed as a COVID-19 illness;
• Is work-related as defined by 29 CFR 1904.5; and
• Involves one or more of the general recording criteria in 29 CFR 1904.7, such as medical treatment beyond first aid or days away from work.

In areas where there is ongoing community transmission, employers other than those in the healthcare industry, emergency response organizations (e.g., emergency medical, firefighting and law enforcement services), and correctional institutions may have difficulty making determinations about whether workers who contracted COVID-19 did so due to exposures at work. Accordingly, until further notice, OSHA will not enforce its recordkeeping requirements to require these employers to make work-relatedness determinations for COVID-19 cases, except where: (1) There is objective evidence that a COVID-19 case may be work-related; and (2) The evidence was reasonably available to the employer. Employers of workers in the healthcare industry, emergency response organizations and correctional institutions must continue to make work-relatedness determinations pursuant to 29 CFR Part 1904.

OSHA’s enforcement policy will provide certainty to the regulated community and help employers focus their response efforts on implementing good hygiene practices in their workplaces and otherwise mitigating COVID-19’s effects.

For further information and resources about the coronavirus disease, please visit OSHA’s COVID-19 webpage.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to help ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.

# # #

Media Contact:

Emily Weeks, 202-693-4681, [e-mail]

Release Number: 20-619-NAT

U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The Department’s Reasonable Accommodation Resource Center converts departmental information and documents into alternative formats, which include Braille and large print. For alternative format requests, please contact the Department at [phone] (voice) or [phone] (federal relay).

[progree]

45. You and I may have a difference about which provides clarification to which

Seems like its also an issue of workplace safety.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

59. Jordan Barab, who was OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary from 2009 to 2017,

also notes issues with the recent OSHA interpretation:

Former OSHA Officials Voice Alarm as Trump Tells Corporations They Don't Have to Record Coronavirus Cases Among Their Workers - https://go.shr.lc/3aYvhg2 via
@commondreams

Link to tweet

The Yahoo! article you linked to quoted David Michaels, OSHA administrator while Obama was in office. He was Jordan Barab's boss.

Trump Administration Tells Employers Not To Worry About Recording COVID-19 Cases
HuffPost
Dave Jamieson, HuffPost • April 11, 2020

{snip}

“OSHA is kidding, right?” tweeted David Michaels, who helmed OSHA throughout the presidency of Barack Obama.

It is not a joke. OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, released an enforcement memo Friday spelling out the recording rules.

{snip}

OSHA announces employers don't have to record Covid19 cases.

The reason: to "help employers focus their response efforts on implementing good hygiene practices in their workplaces, and otherwise mitigating COVID-19’s effects."

OSHA is kidding, right?
https://tinyurl.com/qnhwxn5

Link to tweet

David Michaels Retweeted

During the worst workplace health catastrophe in US history, federal #OSHA is sitting on its ass.

But Washington state OSHA
@lniwa
has decided to enforce safe working conditions for essential workers who are risking their lives for us.

Thank you.

https://lni.wa.gov/forms-publications/F414-164-000.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Link to tweet

[progree]

61. Thanks much for these former OSHA-ite perspectives 😂 n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

62. Jordan Barab especially keeps tab on current OSHA operations. He used to have a blog.

http://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace/

He doesn't have time for it anymore.

I don’t know if this is good news or bad news, but I’ve decided to throw off the shackles of retirement and start full time work at the Education and Labor Committee in the House of Representatives tomorrow morning. That means that this will be my last regular Confined Space post.

[RussBLib]

6. afraid pork will be the next most-hoarded item

cleaning out the stores one by one.

I heard about 30 workers in a meat-packing plant were Covid positive. Could fuck with the beef supply.

Putin must be sooooo happy!

[mwooldri]

8. That is if you can find bacon and ham on the shelves.

A couple of weeks ago meat was being rationed at Walmart. No bacon, no prepacked ham on the shelves. Ham available at the deli counter though.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. There's no shortage of spiral-sliced ham in the DC-area.

Aldi had it for $0.95/lb. last week.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. The last time I checked, the processed meats were all gone from the shelves at Walmart.

That was in northern Virginia.

I was at a Walmart in DC last Friday, but the line (singular) was so long that I put my goodies back where I had got them and left empty-handed.

That's right; everyone stood in the same line. Three items, one hundred and three items, it didn't matter. One line for everyone.

It wasn't worth the wait.

[beachbumbob]

21. it will be all meat before too soon as the US meat packing goes done for months

[hlthe2b]

7. This is the next domino to drop. Nearby Greeley beef packing plant is fighting the same thing.

Damn it that they did not protect their workers. They were an afterthought. Then again, weren't we all?

[customerserviceguy]

12. It will start hitting the warehouses next

Everything your store has came from one of these giant warehouses that take in products from hundreds of companies, and put them on to thousands of trucks with the store's orders. Maybe that's what the TP hoarders were fearing.

People here who almost seem pleased that red-state America is finally getting the virus won't be so happy when the shelves are bare.

[Evolve Dammit]

48. Yes we were (are). The PTB could care less who lives or dies. As long as their bottom line is safe.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. Thanks for the heads-up. I'm headed to the store to buy all the scrapple I can.

Actually, the scrapple I see in stores around DC doesn't come from South Dakota. Our scrapple comes from Maryland and Delaware.

Also, I don't think a scrapple shortage ranks high on the list of big problems this country faces.

[IronLionZion]

27. Do you have roots in PA?

Surprised that people would like scrapple in DC

[mahatmakanejeeves]

35. Not in the last two hundred years.

My father's family did come down into Virginia from Pennsylvania, but that was a long time ago. It was my maternal grandmother who introduced me to scrapple.

[BumRushDaShow]

30. Oooo...

I had scrapple last week and have a package of Habbersett in the freezer!



I better add to the list so I can pick some more up the next time I'm at the supermarket...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

34. I just can't see long lines of shoppers with carts full of scrapple, or fights in the aisle over

that last package of scrapple.

I haven't had scrapple in years. My grandmother used to eat it.

The brand I see most often in stores in northern Virginia is Rapa. There's one from Baltimore too. I can't recall who that is.

Scrapple came up in a thread a few years back at DU. Apparently it's a local thing:

RETRO BALTIMORE
FEATURES

Scrapple, long a Maryland favorite, has graced many a Baltimore kitchen table

By JACQUES KELLY
THE BALTIMORE SUN | OCT 04, 2018 | 1:25 PM

Detractors feel that scrapple, the fried meat pudding augmented with corn meal, is the ultimate 1930s Depression food.

A 1934 ad in The Sun may confirm this: “Let's eat. Fried scrapple and hominy. It's only thirteen cents.”

This dish was then being offered by Baltimore’s Oriole cafeterias, a small chain that fed budget-conscious eaters in downtown Baltimore and on North Avenue.

Even if you convert 13 cents into today’s money, it would still be something like $2.06.

Scrapple is the local favorite for breakfast tables in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. Farmers who kept hogs butchered them in the fall — in October and November — and used every part of the pig for something. After the hams and the pork chops and bacon, the parts that were left — the scraps — would be boiled down and mixed with corn meal and spices. This mixture would be set out in loaf pans.

FOOD & DRINK
Unpacking scrapple: How a loaf made from pig scraps became Baltimore’s favorite breakfast meat

JAN 24, 2018 | 5:00 AM

Baltimore meat packers made their own scrapple and sold it in refrigerated cases at the city’s municipal markets.

The dish can accompany eggs, buckwheat cakes or stand alone, grilled to a crispy brown, and is often served with a generous dollop of ketchup.

H. L. Mencken wrote in The Sun, Nov. 15, 1906: “The scrapple season dawns upon us with its ravishing perfumes. For the brief month following the falling of the leaves it is the king-victual and master-aliment of the great plain people.”

Scrapple was once made at the old Henry Heil meatpacking plant on Falls Road in Hampden. But times change and that pork producer is now being converted into a local brewery.

The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia -- Scrapple

[BumRushDaShow]

36. I remember trying Rapa

and not liking how they seasoned it. Dietz and Watson also makes a version and I didn't like their seasoning either.



Am a definite Habbersett fan and grew up with it! I think other Philly households also had "pork roll" (another Philly favorite made by all of those companies too, although I don't think my parents ever bought it). Scrapple in the frying pan could be a breakfast, lunch, or dinner and my dad would include grits every once in awhile (I put my scrapple in the oven though ).

Funny but I do like ketchup on stuff but never tried it on scrapple. I do know people who put syrup on scrapple.

[jberryhill]

52. Taylor Pork Roll kicks scrapple's ass

[BumRushDaShow]

55. LOL

[AwakeAtLast]

31. Hardly anyone makes Scrapple in the Midwest

A lot gets shipped in to some Amish stores from PA.

[Rural_Progressive]

67. I grew up in Amish country

in north east Ohio in the 50s and 60s. My dad grew up in Maryland on the southwest shores of Chesapeake Bay. We ate a whole lot of Scrapple particularly after a hog was butchered.

Not much available out here in north central WA state. You'd think a woman who comes from a country where lutefisk is considered edible wouldn't have any trouble whipping up a batch of Scrapple, but no she won't go near it even after we slaughter a pig.

Sad.

[AwakeAtLast]

73. My husband is PA Dutch

He knows where to find the good stuff, but getting it to Southern Illinois is a challenge!

[left-of-center2012]

11. "perilously close to the edge" in supplies for grocers.

I assume that's relating to meat product?

[customerserviceguy]

13. Meat first

because the packers work in close contact with each other on overcrowded floors, but the rest of the human part of the supply chain is next.

[Maeve]

22. Which...that people are sick or that they are out of work?

Or do you just object to meet eating?

[Sucha NastyWoman]

16. They are owned by a Chinese company anyway

Guess that means Trump will want to bail them out

[BumRushDaShow]

17. The same thing happened here in PA with Cargill (and other) plants

There is this idiotic thought that the people who work in these plants are somehow "robots" impervious to illness. The steady media drumbeat perpetuating the corporate line of "Oh there's nothing wrong with the food supply. There's plenty of food", is bullshit. Sadly this is why people hoarded in the first place. It was only a matter of time before the supply chain got broken.

Hazleton meat-packaging plant closes with 130 workers testing positive for COVID-19. Union leader at Souderton plant died last Friday.

by Bob Fernandez, Updated: April 9, 2020

Cargill Meat Solutions, a 900-worker plant in Hazleton, Pa., that packages meat in plastic for supermarket shelves in Pennsylvania and surrounding states, shut down temporarily on Tuesday as 130 hourly workers have tested positive for COVID-19 and a rash of employees called out sick, a union leader said. And on Wednesday, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to the family of a 70-year-old union steward at the JBS Beef slaughterhouse in Souderton, now shut down for a second week for sanitizing, that he died on April 3 from respiratory failure brought on by the pandemic virus.

The man, Enock Benjamin of Oxford Circle, had checked with a doctor but was not tested for COVID-19. He thought he had a bad case of asthma, and was using a nebulizer as he coughed and lost his appetite, son Cabo said. By the time the family realized how sick he was, they couldn’t transport him to the hospital and called paramedics. He died soon afterward at home, in his bed. “I’m screaming in the street because nobody is there,” his son said of waiting for about 20 minutes for the ambulance. He broke down while being interviewed by phone.

Meat-processing plants across several states — Colorado, Iowa, and Nebraska along with Pennsylvania — are reporting COVID-19 outbreaks. A federal food inspector in New York died from the disease last month. And at least four meat plants in Pennsylvania have recently closed due to concerns related to the pandemic, said Wendell Young IV, president of the 35,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, which represents workers at all four plants.

The four are Cargill in Hazleton, on the I-80 corridor connecting eastern Pennsylvania with New York, and JBS Beef in Souderton, along with the CTI Foods hamburger-grinding plant in King of Prussia and Empire Kosher Poultry Inc. in Mifflintown, in central Pennsylvania, Young said. “These environments are almost impossible for workers to adhere to safe-distancing protocols," Young said. "We want our folks back to work, but we want them back safely. Safe is more important than fast.” Young said the number of COVID-19 cases among Cargill hourly workers had risen to 164 by Thursday morning.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/meat-plants-pennsylvania-cargill-jbs-souderton-covid-20200409.html

[bucolic_frolic]

18. food riots are rarely good for incumbent dictators

Will MAGAzis be eating soy beans? Will it improve their cognition?

[jb5150]

20. Didn't a wise man once say ..

that a starving man makes a very poor citizen?

[Wellstone ruled]

24. So the truth has finally went public.

Folks,this is just the start. The Pork Plant in Huron South Dakota reported 13 cases three weeks ago. The Local Authorities did their level best to bury that story.

BTW,most of those Morrell employees are Hispanic and Somali. Western Iowa is the next one to see closures.

[econron]

57. Issues at Iowa Facilities

Include: Columbus Junction, Ottumwa, and Marshalltown... more to follow

[link:https://www.wqad.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/tyson-foods-suspends-work-at-columbus-junction-ia-facility-due-to-covid-19-cases/526-40e6c8ff-e34a-418f-a202-8409a3b41a66|

[link:https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2020/04/06/covid-19-outbreak-halts-production-east-iowa-pork-processing-plant/2955922001/|

[link:]https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2020/03/31/iowa-meatpacking-workers-space-insufficient-protect-jbs-plant-coronavirus/5087544002/|]

[Wellstone ruled]

58. Thanks for the info.

Know these areas well. Here is something we just brought to our attention late today. There is a massive Covid hot spot in Cedar Rapids as well as Fairmont Minnesota. Senior assisted Living as well as Nursing homes are not reporting out their true infection numbers.

Wonder when Kimmy gets the hint that she needs to shut Iowa down.

[econron]

71. Maybe Shes Trying to Win the Apprentice

Thanks for protecting the food supply Kim.

Incompetent along with Kristi from South Dakota!

[Nacht Owl]

25. This is a BAD Thing?

We eat too much meat as is!

[jimfields33]

29. So what! This isn't about that.

[spike jones]

32. Smithfield Co. "To be or not to be?"

There goes the sausage and hamlets. I love those little hamlets. They make them from little piglets and are the veal of the pork industry. You have your Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and you have your Smithfield’s hamlets.


I apologize to everyone for that, but you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to post this somewhere.

[yaesu]

33. there are already shortages of everything and will continue for months. nt

[cstanleytech]

37. I needed to cut back on meat anyway as its both pricey and

eating to much of it is really not good for me as it can play havoc with my glucose levels.

[Maxheader]

38. "perilously close to the edge" in supplies for grocers.

This is where the democrats need to come through with some plans...testing for all personnel at food processing plants...?

Protective gear..masks..suits..? Does irradiation..work on corona?

Food irradiation (the application of ionizing radiation to food) is a technology that improves the safety and extends the shelf life of foods by reducing or eliminating microorganisms and insects. Like pasteurizing milk and canning fruits and vegetables, irradiation can make food safer for the consumer.

We don't want the gop handjobs chief bullshitter telling us lies about food supplies...

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

40. No pork butts for you

[Cryptoad]

44. Every Good Age of MAGA warrior knows,,,,,

u gotta get them meat prices up when headed into a Depression

[Joe Bacon]

49. So Trump gonna have problem...

...bringing home the bacon?????

[no_hypocrisy]

51. Not just b/c of all the employees diagnosed with CV,

Trump has more or less suspended food inspections due to the Virus. If I were Smithfield, I'd be looking at a lot of potential lawsuits from consumers of its products and therefore, closing the plant is sensible.

[AJT]

54. They got most of their pork from China.

[obamanut2012]

60. Whoa, for real?

I had no idea Smithfield was no longer US owned with US pork.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

63. This seems unlikely.

Smithfield may have Chinese ownership, but you can walk from beautiful, downtown Sioux Falls to Iowa.

Putting the hogs on a truck and driving a few miles from Iowa to Sioux Falls has to cost a lot less than shipping them from China to the West Coast and then transporting them over the Rockies and the Great Plains to Sioux Falls. Hogs aren't flat screen TVs. They need attention along the way.

{edited}

You can pretty much see the Smithfield facility in South Falls from outer space.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Smithfield+Foods,+Inc./@43.5635314,-96.7203164,825m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x878eb498e0bdacd7:0xde95ff3aa8b2fccf!2sSioux+Falls,+SD!3b1!8m2!3d43.5473028!4d-96.728333!3m4!1s0x878eb50f3d7400cd:0x4762360d76cc670f!8m2!3d43.5623531!4d-96.719242

Was Smithfield Foods Sold to China?

Smithfield Foods was sold to a Chinese company in 2013, but China won't be slaughtering and processing hogs raised in the U.S. and shipping them back to America.

DAVID MIKKELSON
PUBLISHED 8 JULY 2014

{snip}

Moreover, people engaged in that industry have told us that the notion of a Chinese-owned company raising hogs in the U.S., shipping them live all the way to China for slaughtering and processing, then exporting the meat back into the U.S. would be prohibitively cost-inefficient — especially since the slaughtering and processing infrastructures already exist in the U.S., and the Chinese domestic market for pork is far, far larger than the U.S. market for pork.

[Yeehah]

65. No, they don't get any pork from China

But Smithfield is owned by a Chinese company.

[AJT]

70. Ahhhh. Sorry.

[DarthDem]

56. Sad for the workers, but otherwise not a doomsday event

It's one plant. It will be closed for two weeks. 4% of U.S. production.

This does not mean a complete breakdown of the supply chain. Take deep breaths.

[Codeine]

74. The entire "muh bacon" crowd just shit their collective pants.

You’ll be fine, folks; not being able to ram half a sow down lard-slicked guts with both hands for a few weeks won’t kill ya.

[ck4829]

75. Oh my