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Published on:

15th Sep 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME | Taco Meat Tuesday | September 15, 2026

Taco Meat Tuesday | September 15, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Taco Meat Tuesday, September fifteenth. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Consumers aren’t walking away from protein. They’re trading around it. People don’t quit protein. They trade proteins.

HOST: The cutout didn’t do much Monday. The grind did.

SHAWN: Fresh nineties around four thirty-five. Fifties below eighty-nine cents. Both sides of the blend got cheaper. Packers are making about eighty to one hundred ten a head — fourth profitable week. Cattle slaughter is still down seven point six percent year-to-date. The supply didn’t improve. The economics did. Wholesale relief is not automatically cheaper hamburger at retail.

HOST: Pork’s number is demand. August wholesale demand down seventeen point three percent.

SHAWN: That weakness is estimated at about fifteen dollars a head. You can kill fewer hogs. That doesn’t fix demand. Bellies dropped another ten cents to a dollar oh six. Chicken production is up. Breasts more than twenty-six percent cheaper than last year. Minnesota added HPAI detections. Watch the birds. Don’t call it a supply problem today.

HOST: Quota headline is three hundred thousand tons. USDA only raised the import forecast one hundred thirty million pounds. Fed decision Wednesday. Crude is one oh one.

SHAWN: Watch the offers, not the quota. Cheaper protein does less when it costs more to finance and move. 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.