The Senate Agriculture Committee said on Thursday that it would convene a hearing on July 10 to examine Smithfield Foods’ $4.7 billion sale to Shuanghui International, a Chinese meat processor, stepping up government scrutiny of the deal.
The meeting is aimed at determining whether the sale poses risks to United States food standards and whether the review process for foreign companies buying American food companies needs to be reconsidered.
Smithfield Foods’ chief executive, Larry Pope, is scheduled to testify.
The hearing follows a letter sent by members of the committee to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, who supervises a panel of agencies that reviews foeign investments into the country, urging tighter review of the Smithfield sale to Shuanghui International. That group of senators, led by the committee chairwoman, Debbie Stabenow, called on Mr. Lew to add the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration to the panel.
The deal is already under review by the panel of agencies, formally known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is charged with ensuring that an investment by a foreign entity does not pose risks to American security. It has been known to be tough in its consideration of transactions in in! dustries like energy, technology and aerospace, but has had little precedent in examining food deals.
Smithfield and Shuanghui have said that the transaction poses no risk to the country’s national security or food safety standards. Driving the deal is a desire by the Chinese company to import more American pork.
