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20th Oct 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Taco Meat Tuesday | October 20th, 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME

Taco Meat Tuesday | October 20th, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Taco Meat Tuesday, October 20th. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Here's what caught my attention Monday. Cattle cost more, processors ran more head, and Choice beef still lost ground. Select went the other direction. That's a difficult combination to manage. Packers have more product to sell, but higher cattle costs don't disappear because a customer refuses an offer. Pork is presenting a similar challenge. Bellies and hams weakened even with fewer hogs processed last week. In chicken, breasts and thighs are moving in opposite directions. The next change in buying leverage won't arrive evenly. It will show up in particular products, from particular suppliers, for particular delivery dates. I want to know who's holding the pounds, who's buying them, and how long each side can wait. That's where the next negotiation gets interesting.

HOST: Choice closed at three seventy-one fifty-eight, down seventy-three cents. Select gained six eighty-six to three fifty-nine ninety-one. Fresh nineties at three ninety F-O-B plant. Imported frozen nineties at three thirteen C-I-F East Coast. Pork cutout at seventy-nine thirty-nine. Bellies at eighty-six ninety-three. Chicken breast at one seventeen. Thigh at one seventy-three.

SHAWN: Brazil confirmed Newcastle disease in Santa Catarina turkeys. Mexico suspended poultry imports from Brazil. Kayem is recalling about one point five million pounds of ready-to-eat product. Two more screwworm cases in New Mexico. Stay disciplined.

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Shawn Sparks, The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.

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About the Podcast

Protein Pulse Podcast
Your Daily Market Update on All Things Protein.
The Protein Pulse Podcast delivers concise, commercially focused protein market intelligence for buyers, sellers, traders, procurement leaders, processors, and executives across the beef, pork, chicken, feed, and global protein markets. Each episode translates USDA data, market pricing, slaughter trends, trade flows, imports, feed costs, policy developments, and supply-chain signals into clear, practical market context. The focus is simple: cut through the noise, explain what the numbers mean, and give protein professionals the market context they need before making their next decision. Your Daily Market Update on All Things Protein.

About your host

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Shawn Sparks

Shawn Sparks is the founder of The Protein Pulse and a protein procurement, sourcing, and trading executive with more than two decades of experience across beef, pork, chicken, and the broader food supply chain.

His career has included senior procurement and purchasing leadership roles at some of the largest food companies in the industry, with responsibility for billions of dollars in annual protein spend and complex domestic and global sourcing programs.

Today, Shawn leads The Sparks Group, Inc. and Great Plains Protein LLC, where he works across protein sourcing, trading, procurement strategy, supplier development, and market intelligence.

Through The Protein Pulse Podcast, Shawn brings a practical, commercial perspective to the protein markets — translating USDA data, pricing, slaughter trends, imports, exports, feed costs, policy, and supply-chain developments into clear context for buyers, sellers, traders, processors, and industry leaders.

His focus is simple: cut through the noise, explain what the numbers mean, and help protein professionals understand what matters next.

The Protein Pulse — Your Daily Market Update on All Things Protein.