Why A Tyson Foods Plant Is No Longer Allowed To Send Meat To China
Whether you live in the U.S. or all the way across the globe, if you check the meat products that you have in your fridge, chances are you'll see the red and yellow Tyson logo right on the package. Per Fortune, the American company is the second largest chicken, beef, and pork processor in the world, and the leader in beef exports from the U.S. As of late, however, some of those exports have been put to a stop. According to Reuters, China has temporarily banned all meat products from one of Tyson's pork processing plants located in Logansport, Indiana.
As confirmed by the USDA, the ban officially went into effect August 29, but Tyson is still standing by the quality of its meats. "We work closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service to ensure that we produce all of our food in full compliance with government safety requirements," the company shared with Reuters. "We're confident our products are safe and we're hopeful consultations between the U.S. and Chinese governments will resolve this matter."
China often bans imports from American meat processors
In the recent past, Reuters reports, China has banned imports from a number of other meat processors due to coronavirus concerns. Just a month prior to Tyson's Indiana ban, Bloomberg shares, the country also stopped receiving products from two U.S.-based plants after detecting the feed additive ractopamine, which is prohibited in China.
In this case, however, neither coronavirus or ractopamine were cited as the cause. Instead, according to a notice posted on China's customs website, a select number of pig trotters, or the cut of pork also known as pig feet, failed inspection. Though only pig trotters were reported to have failed the inspection, China declared a suspension on all meat products from the Tyson pork processing plant in Indiana. Unfortunately for Tyson, this comes at a time where the demand for pork is higher in China due to national festivals where the meat is more frequently consumed, Bloomberg points out, but the meat trade between China and the U.S. should remain unaffected, experts say.