Livestock News for week of October 14

Lawsuit filed over hog inspection rule

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, as well as a local union branch and a consumer group, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota seeking to stop implementation of a new swine slaughter inspection rule, Feedstuffs reports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently introduced the rule, the first modernizations in more than 50 years. UFCW International president Marc Perrone said in a statement that increasing pork plant line speeds, as the rule calls for, will jeopardize the safety of thousands of workers. The lawsuit alleges the new rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it’s not backed by reasoned decision-making. “The safety of America’s food and workers is not for sale, and this lawsuit seeks to ensure this dangerous rule is set aside and these companies are held accountable,” Perrone said. The union says its members handle 71% of all hogs slaughtered and processed in the United States, and that meatpacking workers are injured at 2.4 times the rate of other industries. “These injuries result in lost time or restrictions at three times the rate of other industries, and they face illness rates at 17 times the rate of other industries,” UFCW said.

Demand for U.S. pork in emerging markets continues to grow

U.S. pork exports increased 22% in August from a year ago, to 221,586 metric tons, while export value increased 19%, to $588.8 million, according to new federal data compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Despite retaliatory duties from China, China/Hong Kong received the most U.S. pork in August, at 63,656 metric tons—more than triple August 2018—while export value climbed 160% to $137.6 million. Since Mexico removed its 20% retaliatory duty on U.S. pork in late May, exports have rebounded significantly but are still trailing record numbers from 2017. “The really positive story behind these numbers,” said USMEF president and CEO Dan Halstrom, “is that even as U.S. exports to China/Hong Kong have surged and exports to Mexico rebounded after the removal of retaliatory duties, demand in other markets is proving resilient and continues to grow.” Other pork highlights for the first half of the year include a 28% increase in exports to South America, led by growth in Colombia and Chile. Exports to Central America increased 16% over last year, and exports to Oceania were up 38%. August beef exports, meanwhile, fell 4% from last year. National Hog Farmer has the story.

Senators seek inquiry into JBS business; JBS USA will produce pork without growth drug banned by China

Two U.S. senators wrote a letter to the treasury secretary requesting an investigation into JBS S.A., the world’s largest meat processor, Meat + Poultry reports. The senators, Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio, said that since JBS moved into the U.S. market, it has engaged in “illicit financial activities including bribing Brazilian government officials” along with business relationships with Venezuela’s government run by Nicolas Maduro. “Given its admitted criminal conduct to secure loans that were used for investment in the United States and the group’s business relationships with Venezuela’s Maduro regime, as well as its growing reliance on financing from entities aligned with the Chinese government, we ask that [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] conduct a review of JBS SA’s acquisition of US companies,” the senators wrote in their letter. “The growing trend of foreign investment in our nation’s food system demands increased attention and scrutiny in order to safeguard our nation’s food supply.” JBS USA, meanwhile, announced it will remove a growth drug banned by Beijing from its U.S. hog supply, accelerating the competition for pork exports as China deals with the effects of African swine fever on its domestic pig herd. JBS’ move away from the drug ractopamine, a feed additive, shows how companies are maneuvering to take advantage of an expected pig shortage in China, according to Reuters. JBS USA said it removed ractopamine from internally owned production systems in August 2018. Now the company will also prohibit the drug from diets of hogs owned by farmers who sell livestock to JBS USA.

Impossible Foods CEO: Plant-based competitors stifle industry growth; Impossible Burger’s key ingredient needed FDA approval, company reported $270K in lobbying

“Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown doesn’t hide the fact that he’s out to eradicate the meat industry,” Christopher Doering writes for Food Dive. “He just wishes that his competitors in the plant-based meat segment would do more to help.” Brown said the influx of companies delving into plant-based products shows momentum is building to find alternatives for meat eaters. “The only negative” about the other plant-based players, Brown said, “is that most of those products, to be honest, tend to suck, and I think that hurts us.” Brown wants to eradicate animal agriculture and deep sea fishing by 2035. Impossible Foods began selling its plant-based burger in grocery stores in September, after receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a key ingredient, heme. The ingredient hadn’t been sold before in uncooked form “and was met with some skepticism from the FDA and consumer-advocacy groups,” Elisabeth Buchwald writes for Market Watch. Impossible first had to prove to the agency that heme, which is extracted from soybean plant roots, is safe to eat, before seeking approval for the ingredient to be used as a color additive to provide a “bleed” effect. Throughout the approval process, the company has disclosed $270,000 in lobbying spending, though company officials wouldn’t say how much of that went to the FDA. Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods’ major competitor, has been in grocery stores since 2016. Beyond Meat hasn’t disclosed any lobbying spending in Washington, D.C., and has emphasized its products don’t contain heme.

Scientist who discredited meat guidelines didn’t report past food industry ties

A recent study that caused controversy for challenging long-held recommendations that consumers should limit red meat consumption didn’t reveal that its lead author has past ties to the meat and food industry, The New York Times reports. The analysis, led by Bradley C. Johnston, an epidemiologist at Dalhousie University in Canada, and more than a dozen researchers, concluded that warnings linking meat consumption to heart disease and cancer are not backed by strong scientific evidence. While Johnston said he had no conflicts of interest in the past three years, he was the senior author, as recently as December 2016, on a similar study that tried to discredit international health guidelines advising people to eat less sugar. That study was funded by an industry trade group largely supported by agribusiness, food and pharmaceutical companies whose members have included Cargill. Johnston said his past relationship had no influence on the current research on meat recommendations. He also said the funding he received from the industry-tied group, the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), arrived in 2015, outside the required three-year reporting window. Critics of the meat study said that while Dr. Johnston may have technically complied with disclosure rules, he didn’t comply with the spirit of financial disclosure.