pork futures

Pig's Heart (from: Wikipedia)

"One of McDonald’s most divisive products, the McRib, made its return last week. For three decades, the sandwich has come in and out of existence, popping up in certain regional markets for short promotions, then retreating underground to its porky lair—only to be revived once again for reasons never made entirely clear. Each time it rolls out nationwide, people must again consider this strange and elusive product, whose unique form sets it deep in the Uncanny Valley—and exactly why its existence is so fleeting.[...]
There is no skilled labor involved anywhere along the McRib’s Dickensian journey from hog to tray, and certainly no regional variety, except for the binary sort—Yes, the McRib is available/No, it is not [...]. 
     The McRib was introduced in 1982-1981 according to some sources—and was created by McDonald’s former executive chef Rene Arend, the same man who invented the Chicken McNugget. Reconstituted, vaguely anatomically-shaped meat was something of a specialty for Arend, it seems. And though the sandwich is made of pork shoulder and/or reconstituted pork offal slurry, it is pressed into patties that only sort of resemble a seven-year-old’s rendering of what he had at Tony Roma’s with his granny last weekend. [...]
     The theory that the McRib’s elusiveness is a direct result of the vagaries of the cash price for hog meat in the States is simple: in this thinking, the product is only introduced when pork prices are low enough to ensure McDonald’s can turn a profit on the product. The theory is especially convincing given the McRib's status as the only non-breakfast fast food pork item: why wouldn't there be a pork sandwich in every chain, if it were profitable?" — Willy Staley, The Awl
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"Bad news for fans of the infamous McRib: The Humane Society filed a legal complaint against Virginia-based Smithfield Foods, which supplies the pork for McDonald's sandwich. In an undercover operation from 2010, the animal rights group says it uncovered a number of disturbing farming practices, including the use of tightly confining gestation crates that cause sows to suffer 'from open pressure sores and other ulcers and wounds,' with nary a veterinarian in sight. Will these gross allegations sully the reputation of the barbecue-sauce-slathered sandwich?"— The Week
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"[...] On Wednesday, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) filed the SEC complaint against Smithfield Farms in Virginia, which is one of the biggest suppliers of pork to McDonald's.
     The complaint, obtained by the International Business Times, states, among other things, that Smithfield makes false claims in a video series posted on its website this week, entitled 'Taking the Mystery out of Pork Production.' The HSUS alleges that Smithfield engages in cruel treatment of its animals, such as its pigs confinement in gestation crates and the castration of animals without painkillers."— LoGiurato, International Business Times
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