Smithfield Foods Inc. Chief Executive Officer C. Larry Pope has answered to lawmakers suspicious of the proposed acquisition of Smithfield Foods Inc. by a Chinese firm. The hog processor's planned US$4.7 billion buyout would most likely affect U.S. exports and security, lawmakers have said.

Pope, answering to the lawmakers' fears about probable dangers of the deal in a hearing yesterday, told the Senate Agriculture Committee firmly that the possession of the world's biggest pork provider by China's Shuanghui International Ltd. will improve exports without damaging economic competitiveness or endangering U.S. food safety. Smithfield Foods Inc is a Virginia-based and the offer is set to be the largest Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. .

The offer for  Smithfield Foods Inc. from Shuanghui International Ltd., ignited worries over foreign access to intellectual property, the possiblity of less-strict product-safety regulation implementation, and the larger consequences of increased foreign control of U.S. agribusiness.