meatpacking

The cattle trade brought big business to Kansas City, and a history of barbecue shaped our culture. Now, local butchers are carving out a niche for high quality meats and specialty items, whether you're putting together a charcuterie board or preparing for a neighborhood cook-off.

State regulators are considering a request from Missouri Prime Beef Packers, which processes more than 3,500 cattle per week near Pleasant Hope, to treat wastewater from its operation using microorganisms and discharge it directly into the Pomme de Terre River.

A highly concentrated beef market has meant higher prices for consumers and lower returns for the people raising the animals. Some ranchers in the Midwest and Great Plains want a new option by organizing their own processing plants.

Walmart is putting more than $250 million into a beef packaging plant in Olathe. That will bring hundreds of jobs to Johnson County and reflects a big shift in the way beef gets from farm to table.

Packers Sanitation Services, based in Wisconsin, paid $1.5 million to the U.S. Department of Labor after an investigation found it employed children in dangerous jobs in eight different states.

A company hired to clean meatpacking plants in Missouri and other Midwest states is accused of illegally using children for potentially dangerous jobs. Plus: Eric Schmitt is heading to D.C. as Missouri's next U.S. Senator, but he'll be entering a very different legislative environment than the one he's used to at home.

The U.S. Department of Labor said a company hired to clean meatpacking plants may have used children to work potentially dangerous jobs at facilities in Nebraska and Missouri.

Kansas City will be one of 11 U.S. host cities in the 2026 World Cup. Plus, venison donated to food pantries could contain trace amounts of lead — but in Kansas and Missouri, you won't get a warning.

The crossbreed gained some attention in the 1970s. Supporters today say there is big potential to provide better, healthier meat by combining the best qualities of the two animals, in just the right amount.

Along with $1 billion in American Rescue Plan money to help small processors expand, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is revising regulations intended to protect against monopoly behavior. And it's setting up an online portal to field complaints.

Nationwide, COVID-19 disproportionately affected communities of color — in part because the U.S. relies on immigrant workers in food and agriculture.

Immigrants make up an estimated 40 percent of the U.S. meat processing workforce. Last year’s wave of COVID outbreaks at meatpacking plants exposed many vulnerabilities among the industry’s diverse workforce.