A deregulation plan for meat-packing goes from Glenn Beck’s mouth to Trump’s social media.
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President Donald Trump said he is working to allow farmers and ranchers to process their own meat instead of having to use USDA-inspected facilities, a policy that appears to have originated during a conversation Wednesday with conservative radio host Glenn Beck.
Posting on his Truth Social website about the plan, Trump called large meat-processing companies “a nasty Monopoly,” saying they “make life miserable for our wonderful Farmers and Ranchers.”
There are thousands of meat-processing businesses in the country, though several large companies are responsible for the majority of meat processing in the United States — a fact Beck raised during a live interview with Trump. The longtime radio host, who owns a ranch, referred to the “meat-processing cartel” and asked Trump to work to cut regulations that require farmers and ranchers selling their meat to use facilities regulated and inspected by the U.S. Agriculture Department for slaughtering and meat processing.
“Help us. Help us,” Beck said, urging Trump to “break the back of those processing plants.”
“This is a very big thing. … You just gave me a very good idea,” Trump responded.
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Trump has found himself caught between consumers annoyed at the high cost of meat and ranchers frustrated at his decision to temporarily waive tariffs on imported beef — a still unclear plan he recently announced as prices soar amid cattle shortages.
The president wrote that he is “authorizing legal documents to be drawn in order to allow Farmers and Ranchers to be given the right to PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD. This should move quickly.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the documents he referenced or which existing food-safety regulations Trump hopes to waive.
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