Smithfield Deal 'Difficult' In Light of China's Pork Import Restrictions, Senate Finance Leaders Say
Senate Finance Committee leaders called for action on China’s “restrictive” policies banning U.S. pork imports, and said the planned acquisition of pork producer Smithfield Foods by a Chinese company should consider the complete range of national security and food safety implications, in a June 21 letter to the U.S. Trade Representative. “China’s policies are unscientific, inconsistent, and are directly harming the United States agriculture community,” said the letter, from Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, (here). China prohibits imports of pork containing any reside of ractopamine, for example, even though the scientific community regards the food additive as safe, the Senators said.
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They also called for a complete review of how the acquisition of Smithfield -- the largest pork producer in the world -- by Shuanghu Group of China would affect national security and food safety transactions. "The purchase of Smithfield ... is difficult to square with China's restrictive policies that effectively ban U.S. pork," the letter said. The acquisition will be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. On June 20, a bipartisan group of Senators requested CFIUS also include the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration in its review, and “look beyond any direct impact on government agencies and operations to the broader issues of food security, food safety, and biosecurity,” said the Senators in their letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew (here).