From the editors of Feedstuffs
China, U.K. trade talks offer lucrative opportunities for animal food industry
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) said it is pleased to see a cooling of U.S. tariffs on and retaliatory tariffs from China and a proposed trade agreement with the U.K. coming to fruition, given discussions late last week and over the weekend between the U.S. and respective countries’ trade officials. Both China and the U.K. present valuable opportunities for U.S. animal food manufacturers, which produce some of the safest, highest-quality and innovative feed, feed ingredients and pet food globally.
Under the potential agreement with China, the U.S. would lower tariffs on Chinese imports to 30% from its current 145%; China would reduce its import duty to 10% from 125% on American goods, and the global superpowers would place a 90-day pause on new tariffs while trade representatives negotiate.
China was the U.S. animal food industry’s third top export destination by value at $1.27 billion in 2024. In 2024, the U.S. animal food industry imported roughly $549 million in ingredients and animal food products.
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JBS S.A. released what it called one of its strongest first-quarter results for 2025, reporting an 8.5% increase in net sales year over year to $19.5 billion and 8% growth in net revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was up 17.7% to $1.5 billion, and net profit jumped 50.5% to $500 million.
Gilberto Tomazoni, global chief executive officer of JBS, one of the world’s largest meat packers, pointed out that it was “a remarkable performance in what is typically a softer quarter for the global protein industry.”
The company attributed its strong results to the poultry and pork businesses in Brazil and the U.S., with Seara and Pilgrim’s recording their best first-quarter EBITDA margins in history – at 19.8% and 14.8%, respectively – in what is currently a very strong global demand environment for both proteins.
“Our poultry and pork businesses in Brazil and the United States were the standout performers this quarter,” Tomazoni said. Read more
Merck invests $895M in Kansas manufacturing and research facilities
Merck Animal Health, known as MSD Animal Health outside the U.S. and Canada, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly jointly announced the $895 million expansion of Merck Animal Health’s manufacturing facility in De Soto, Kan.
The $895 million capital expansion will be constructed on an existing Merck-owned property that is the site of its biologics facility in De Soto. It includes an $860 million investment in the site’s existing manufacturing facility and a further $35 million investment in its research and development laboratories.
The 200,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility project will expand filling and freeze-dryer capacity for large molecule vaccines and biologic products for Merck Animal Health. As a Center of Excellence, it will play a pivotal role in the manufacturing of Merck Animal Health’s products and will complement the company’s extensive U.S. and international network of animal health product manufacturing plants.
Two more states have now passed legislation to ban lab-grown meat. On May 1, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed HB401 into law, prohibiting the manufacture, sale and distribution of cultivated meat, while Indiana took another route this week, issuing a two-year moratorium on the products from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027. Following the temporary ban, cultivated meat products will then be required to display the phrase: “This is an imitation meat product.”
A similar bill in Nebraska has advanced in the legislature, despite an attempt to amend it with labeling requirements instead of an absolute ban.
Montana and Indiana join Mississippi, Alabama and Florida in taking legislative action against lab-grown meat. However, Florida is now facing a legal challenge to the 2024 state law from UPSIDE Foods Inc. The California-based manufacturer of lab-grown poultry products claims the ban violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it was "enacted to shield in-state producers of conventional meat from competition from out-of-state producers of cultivated meat." Read more
A strategic collaboration between dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health and Bureau Veritas Solutions Denmark A/S, a global leader in testing, inspection and certification services, was announced May 8 to promote a credible sustainability measurement in animal protein production.
The two organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding to leverage dsm-firmenich’s Sustell™ life cycle assessment platform to support calculations and emission reduction measurement for sustainable business practices in the feed and animal protein value chain.
The agreement highlights a shared commitment to establish more sustainable business practices and limit the environmental impact of the animal protein industry. By leveraging Sustell, the animal protein industry can monetize carbon footprint reduction with innovative nutrition solutions that enhance farm animal health and productivity.Farm-to-fork cooperation based on credible data offers value chains the best opportunity to improve traceability, meet reporting requirements, generate value and make sustainability a reality for industry players, people and the planet.Read more
Researchers develop pig fat cells for large-scale, lab-grown meat production
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute say pig fat cell production could transform lab-grown meat development due to the rare combination of both reliable and stable cell growth. A source of fat cells from pigs has been developed, which they believe will offer a new tool to produced cultivated meat on a larger scale without genetic modification. In their paper, the researchers showed the novel cell line was capable of efficiently and consistently producing fat tissue. The Roslin team says the development could "address the challenge of generating realistic, sustainable animal fat, a significant hurdle in the cultivated meat industry."Read more
