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Chamber expert cautions on Smithfield deal

A U.S. business expert says China wants control of Smithfield Foods and its hog genetics technology in its bid to purchase the largest pork producer in America that he says will ultimately harm the U.S. economy.

Daniel Slane, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, testified at the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing Wednesday on the proposed purchase. Slane says Shuanghui International has ties to the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist party. Because of China’s own struggles to improve its domestic pork supply, he says, it is seeking to gain control of rural American food production companies to the detriment of the rural and overall U.S. economy.

“COFCO is the Chinese’ largest grain trading company in China and they’re a state-owned entity,” Slane testified, “They have publicly announced that they are seeking acquisitions of U.S. companies so if this transaction with Smithfield gets approved, I don’t know how you stop other state-owned and state-controlled Chinese companies from coming in and buying our food companies. The second thing that offends me is they can buy our companies but we can’t buy their companies.”

That concern was echoed by Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska. Smithfield Foods’ CEO Larry Pope defended the acquisition saying it would help U.S. pork producers and the overall U.S. economy. Pope also dismissed concerns that the deal would be detrimental to U.S. food safety.