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Published on:

27th Oct 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Taco Meat Tuesday | October 27th, 2026

Taco Meat Tuesday | October 27th, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Taco Meat Tuesday, October 27th. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: A twenty-two cent drop in eighty-fives while nineties sit flat isn't a normal market, it's numbers all over the place. Black is white, up is down. When daily economics flip that fast, you can't manage procurement from a weekly composite. The buyers winning right now are re-specifying ground beef inputs on the fly to exploit the spread between fat trim and lean boneless. Overhead, Brazil's real is dropping after their election, theoretically making export beef cheaper. But paper talk doesn't fill a truck. Don't mistake currency tickers for real plant savings. Until an importer hands you a confirmed landed offer covering freight, tariffs, and transit time, it isn't real. In a market this inverted, forget the theoretical models. Stay grounded in what you can actually buy, run, and deliver to the dock today.

HOST: Fresh eighty-fives at three eleven, down twenty-two forty-three cents. Nineties near three eighty-eight. Choice grade cutout at three sixty-nine forty-four, up three sixty-five. Pork cutout at seventy-three eighty. Chicken breast at one thirteen. West Texas Crude at one oh one seventy-six. Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel at four ninety-one.

SHAWN: USDA opened applications for five billion dollars in processing loans. Columbus reportedly reopened. Brazil's second Newcastle outbreak is restricting poultry access. Stay grounded in what you can actually buy. 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.