Smithfield Foods, the largest U.S. pork producer and processor, completed the purchase of its rival and the nation's second-largest pork producer, Premium Standard Farms, last month. The U.S. Justice Department signed off on the deal after concluding the merger “is not likely to harm competition, consumers or farmers.”

The deal gives Smithfield (annual revenues of more than $11 billion) about 30% of the U.S. pork market. Smithfield operates packing plants in Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois, North Carolina and Virginia, and is a major beef producer and a partner in Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding LLC, the world's largest cattle-feeding enterprise.