Current Cattle Market Headlines: Thursday, June 25, 2020

Mackenzie Johnston

4 years ago

Impossible Foods CEO says the meat industry will be obsolete in 15 years

On Tuesday, Impossible Foods founder and CEO Patrick Brown was featured on CNBC’s Mad Money segment with Jim Cramer.
Brown explained that the meat industry is in the midst of a reckoning. He feels that his company’s products easily match the protein quality and content of animal protein products. On top of that, Brown said that the plant-based products are the clear winner when it comes to health and nutrition.
The company’s mission is to replace animal-based products in the food world within the next 15 years.
Earlier this week, Impossible Foods announced a partnership deal with Starbucks who will now carry the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich in most of their stores.
- The Impossible Breakfast Sandwich is an attempt by Starbucks to offer more sustainable food options.

Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey have sent a letter to the chief executives of Smithfield, Tyson, Cargill, and JBS.
The two senators want to know why the companies were exporting record levels of meat to China while they were also lobbying the Trump administration to keep their plants open during the pandemic to feed the American public.
Also during the pandemic, Tyson published an ad in the New York Times warning the American consumer of a meat shortage coming down the line.
Booker and Warren claim that the packing companies put their workers’ lives in danger while also gouging the American consumer at the meat counter.
An article in the New York Times prompted this letter last week that reported pork exports to China totaled a record 129,000 tons in April.
The meatpacking companies say that the majority of the exported meat had been produced weeks before it was shipped to China and before packing plants became hot spots for the virus.
Data shows that meat exports surged in May.
- Poultry increased 28 percent from a year before.
- Pork exports to China rose 590 percent from a year earlier, reaching their highest level since 2009.
“These actions raise questions about the circumstances of the president’s executive order, your honesty with the American public about the reasons for higher food prices, and your commitment to providing a safe, affordable, and abundant food supply for the nation,” stated Booker and Warren in the letter.