U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is seizing prohibited meat products from China at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.
According to Reuters, the products are being seized due to potential disease contamination, such as African Swine Fever (ASF). This disease wiped out much of China's hog population in 2018 and 2019, but the pork industry is very important in China.
The cost of raising pigs in China is higher than in the U.S., so part of its solution is to raise pigs here (for example, through Smithfield Foods). Another part of China's solution is to raise tons of pigs in high-rise "farms." Hog farms in China seem to have higher standards for disease-mitigating tactics, such as waste disposal, than Chinese-owned farms in the U.S.
“Preventing the introduction of foreign contagious animal diseases and noxious pests at our nation’s largest seaport is paramount and vital to our agriculture industry and the well-being of the communities we serve,” CBP Director of Field Operations in Los Angeles Carlos Martel said, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “We work closely with our USDA and private-sector partners to protect the nation from a variety of diverse agriculture threats."
“CBP plays a major role in protecting American consumers and the agriculture industry from pests and diseases,” Donald Kusser, CBP Port Director of the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport said, according to the CBP website. “These unprecedented numbers reflect the critical role and outstanding contributions of CBP’s agriculture specialists. They have been working tirelessly identifying, intercepting and seizing these prohibited items.”
The Chinese government has been increasing bio security measures after the ASF killed off near 200 million of China’s pigs in a single year, according to The Guardian.
“There used to be hardly any large-scale farms, and household farms were a common sight,” Yao Zuozhun, director of the Shaungqing District Animal Hygiene Supervision Center said, according to The Guardian. “But over the past few years, the scene has gradually shifted to large farms for better hygiene and pollution control.”
Chinese pig producers have been building high-rise “hog hotels” to house their herds, according to Pork Business. The housing leverages technology to address problems like waste disposal.
“With the multistory buildings, it's easy to separate the solid and the liquid [waste] in real time, not like the traditional one that mixes them together after several months,” Yu Ping, executive director of Sichuan Tianzow Breeding Technology Co. said, according to Pork Business.
At the beginning of 2020, Chinese investors and Chinese-owned companies owned just under 200,000 acres of U.S. farmland, worth approximately $1.9 billion, Politico reported. The Chinese Communist Party has a goal of controlling its food supply chain, which has led to Chinese purchases of companies such as pork-processor Smithfield Foods.
China's WH Group, Ltd., purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.7 billion, according to Reuters.
Smithfield settled multiple lawsuits in 2020 that had been filed by more than 500 North Carolina residents, who cited the company's practice of storing hog feces in open pits, Agriculture.com reports. The North Carolinians, who lived on farms neighboring a Smithfield facility, stated that at times they were unable to leave their homes because of the stench. Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote for the court that Smithfield “persisted in its chosen farming practices, despite its knowledge of the harms to its neighbors, exhibiting wanton or willful disregard of the neighbors’ rights to enjoyment of their property."
