Pork Producer to Convert Third Plant to Ractopamine-Free

Randall Weiseman Livestock, Pork

The world’s largest pork producer will soon raise half of its hogs on feed that doesn’t contain the additive ractopamine. Smithfield Foods CEO Larry Pope, speaking at a market conference in New York Tuesday, said two Smithfield plants that handle 43-thousand hogs a day are already ractopamine-free. But the company is going to convert a third plant on June 1st. And at that point, he said more than 50-percent of Smithfield’s operations will have no ractopamine as part of their feed rations.