What else do you want for lunch?
"Town that pork built digests Smithfield sale" by Michael Laris | Washington Post, June 01, 2013]
SMITHFIELD, Va. — The pig is many things in this riverside town in southeastern Virginia. Happy porcine images are everywhere: There’s a pig in a chef’s hat holding a beer outside a neighborhood grill. Down the road, a cartoon pig is serving pie and another is hawking children’s clothes. A blue-and-pink pig statue is painted with a platter of ham and biscuits.
In the birthplace of the Genuine Smithfield Ham, the pig is part plaything, part source of civic pride, and, as of this week, a big, fat reminder of how global economic forces can encroach upon the smallest of communities.
The announcement that Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork producer, had agreed to sell itself to a Chinese meat conglomerate has left many here wondering how the $4.7 billion deal will affect their lives and their town’s most important symbol.
The company’s vast facility in the middle of town draws workers from communities across this part of the state and from North Carolina, and locals say they have built their own businesses — and a wider tourist economy — on the back of the hometown firm’s growth.
Residents and workers said they wonder whether the community will continue to benefit with owners an ocean away.
In a downtown boutique, standing amid purses, tchotchkes, and platters marked ‘‘Made in China,’’ one of the town’s 8,000 residents, Michele Vandeveer, spoke of devouring Smithfield ham, prepared lovingly by an uncle, on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. ‘‘If you do it right, there’s nothing better on a biscuit,’’ she said. The new geopolitics of that deliciousness are throwing her.
‘‘I’m not very happy about it. Nothing’s more American than ham,’’ Vandeveer said. ‘‘I just think the Chinese are getting their tentacles everywhere in America, from loans to companies. It just seems like a downward spiral to me.’’
A spiral ham?
Just down the road, Harvey Saunders stood in his spot behind the counter, his perch for watching changes that have come to Smithfield since the 1950s. He rents saws and other equipment now, but he used to supply the Smithfield slaughterhouse and other businesses with sheet metal and heating oil. His secretary knew everyone’s name, telephone number, and account number by heart.
Smithfield’s roads have clogged with newcomers, and taxes have gone up without services keeping pace, Saunders said. ‘‘It used to be a nice place to live. Now it’s overrun by people moving in from the city,’’ he said, adding that the new folks didn’t help his business much.
But he welcomes the changes that could come with the arrival of new Chinese owners of the town’s biggest enterprise. In addition to his other jobs, Saunders worked for years as a pilot shuttling Smithfield Foods executives around the country as they made acquisitions of their own. He expects the company’s operations — and local footprint — will only grow if the purchase moves ahead.
‘‘The Chinese didn’t get where they are from being dumb. And they’ve got to eat,’’ Saunders said. ‘‘The only thing going for this country now is a plentiful food supply. . . . Now we’ll be exporting more meat.’’
Then why are so many of us hungry?
For the deal to move forward, Shuanghui International needs a regulatory go-ahead from Washington officials. A host of scandals has hit China’s poorly regulated food suppliers in recent years, and concerns have been raised about some of Shuanghui’s past practices.
Chinese state media reported that pork from a Shuanghui subsidiary had been tainted by a chemical that can make meat leaner but is poisonous to humans.
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Does anyone really trust the safety of the global food supply anymore? It's a taking your chances kind of thing now.
And wait until you see who is cooking out back:
"Smithfield to be sold to Chinese company" by Michael J. de la Merced and Mark Scott | New York Times, May 30, 2013
Shuanghui International of China agreed Wednesday to buy the US meat processor Smithfield Foods for about $4.7 billion, in one of the biggest moves to date by a Chinese company into the United States....
The deal is meant to give Smithfield, one of the world’s biggest pork producers, entry into China. Smithfield has looked for ways to export its meat to the country, one of the biggest markets for pork, as growth in other markets has slowed.
But it will probably draw close government scrutiny over Chinese food standards, especially amid a number of incidents like a recent scare over bird flu.
Which dropped off the radar pdq. At least the vaccine development goes on.
Though Smithfield has argued that the deal is meant to sell American pork outside of the country and not import Chinese products, regulators are likely to ensure that the company does not lower its quality standards.
Shuanghui, also known as Shineway, is owned in part by an investment firm run by Goldman Sachs. It has around $1.6 billion in assets and factories across China, as well as operations in other countries like Japan and Korea....
See whose cooking up your Chinese dinner?
In 2011, Shuanghui was at the center of a meat scandal after some of its farms were found to have fed a chemical harmful to humans to livestock.
The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, is expected to close in the second half of the year.
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Related: Slow Saturday Special: French Sheep Dip
Are you sure it's shredded pork?
"Wendy’s new pretzel burger isn’t just about taste" by Candice Choi | Associated Press, June 01, 2013
NEW YORK — All the online buzz aside, there’s another reason why Wendy’s impending rollout of a pretzel burger has the fast-food chain excited: the profit margins....
Sounds gross.
The burger is in line with a push by Wendy’s to cast itself as being on the higher end of the fast-food industry....
I always felt they were five-star when compared with the others (as if that us saying much).
Chief executive Emil Brolick and other Wendy’s executives have noted that small adjustments like bread can have a big impact on how customers perceive the quality and healthfulness of the chain’s food....
Of course, there’s the fun factor for customers, too. Taco Bell’s test of a breakfast waffle taco with egg has generated excitement online as well.
A spokesman for Wendy’s Co., based in Dublin, Ohio, wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Don't want to talk with a mouth full of pretzel burger.
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Also see: No Fish For You!
What else is left to eat, and are you really sure what that meat is??
I have to go to a graduation party so I will be leaving it here for now.
