Cattle futures rose this week on speculation that U.S. beef demand will rebound. Hog prices also advanced.

Wholesale beef last week slumped 3.1%, the fifth straight decline and the longest slump since May, USDA data shows. Some retailers stopped selling items with lean finely textured beef (LFTB), which is a product recovered from beef trim and treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill pathogens.

“The industry is thinking we’ve all the bad news behind us,” says Lane Broadbent, vice president at KIS Futures Inc. “They think our demand is going to come back.”

The USDA has repeated that LFTB is safe. Several fast-food chains, including McDonald’s Corp., have stopped using the product.

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