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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Pork Giant's Sale to China Could Put Pig Promises in Jeopardy

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Wednesday, June 5, 2013   

LANSING, Mich. - Last week's big business story about the sale of Smithfield Foods to a Chinese company puts a "pig promise" in peril.

After the Humane Society of the United States exposed the treatment of pigs at a Smithfield factory in Virginia, the company promised to make changes, including expanding the cramped cages that didn't allow the pigs to move. Now, Paul Shapiro, the society's vice president for farm animal protection, is worried about the fate of those factory farm improvements if the sale to the Chinese firm is approved.

"As terrible as animal welfare in the U.S. agricultural industry is, it is even worse in China," Shapiro said, "so there's a real concern about that here."

Smithfield's chief executive issued a statement saying the company - the largest pork producer in the United States - does not anticipate any changes in the way it does business. Shapiro sees that as a good sign.

"Fortunately, the modest animal-welfare policies that Smithfield does have seem to be remaining in place, even in light of this new information," Shapiro said. "However, we need to be vigilant and those policies need to be strengthened."

China's Shuangui International announced a week ago that it would buy Smithfield Foods for $4.7 billion. The cash deal still must be approved by a federal government panel that reviews such transactions with foreign companies.

The Smithfield Foods statement is online at investors.smithfieldfoods.com.


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