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Smithfield boosting production of ractopamine-free pork
Story Date: 5/16/2013
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Source: MEATINGPLACE, 5/15/13
Smithfield Foods Inc. will soon convert a third plant to ractopamine-free production as the company positions itself to take advantage of demand for pork without the feed supplement, Chief Executive C. Larry Pope said.
When the third plant is converted on June 1, more than 50 percent of the company’s operations will have no ractopamine as part of its feed rations, Pope said.
Ractopamine is an FDA-approved drug used for many years as a feed additive to produce leaner pork, but China, Russia, the EU and other countries have banned its use.
“We see that as a strong competitive advantage, that we can change the way we raise the animals on the farms, get access to a market that the rest of the industry struggles to do,” said Pope, who spoke Tuesday at an investor conference sponsored by BMO Capital Markets.
Smithfield in February said its plants in Clinton and Tar Heel, N.C., together would supply the market with more than 43,000 ractopamine-free hogs a day when the Tar Heel facility was fully converted by March 1, in time to comply with new regulatory requirements from China.
Pope, at the investor conference, did not specify which plant would become Smithfield’s third ractopamine-free production facility.
A Smithfield spokeswoman was not available by press time to respond to a request from Meatingplace for more details.
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