WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) — U.S. lawmakers worry that Chinese firm Shuanghui International’s plan to buy American pork producer Smithfield Foods could create food safety issues for U.S. consumers.
Senate agriculture committee chair Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, said federal agencies considering the merger “must take China’s and Shuanghui’s troubling track record on food safety into account.”
The concern stems from recent food safety issues at Shuanghui and in China.
The company was forced to recall its Shineway brand meat products from stores two years ago amid fears that some of it contained a banned feed additive called clenbuterol.
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Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the judiciary committee, was one of the first to cast doubt on the Smithfield deal and has said some Chinese food companies’ tactics are unsafe.
The Iowa senator is urging the Department of Justice to examine the nearly $5 billion acquisition to protect competition in the pork industry.
“I am also concerned about the impact on consumer choice and the price of pork products,” Grassley said in a letter to the justice department’s antitrust division.
