Nine US senators are urging the Department of Justice to carry out a review of the proposed sale of bankrupt Farmland Industries’ pork operations to US pork producer Smithfield Foods.

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The proposed sale would give Smithfield control of a third of the US pork-processing industry, the senators wrote in a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft.


“The immediate impact of such a transaction could very well be devastating to some regional markets,” the letter was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. “Independent livestock producers already are struggling to find buyers in a highly concentrated marketplace, and an increasing number of producers are being driven out of business altogether.”


The senators are calling for Ashcroft to ensure the Justice Department’s review is done “with the greatest possible scrutiny, in the interest of consumers, producers and rural communities.”

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