U.S. Meat Supply “Perilously Close To The Edge” As Coronavirus Pandemic Shuts Major Meat Factories
Supply problems arise amid concerns over the meat industry’s treatment of employees, as hundreds of meat workers are testing positive for the virus as factories try to push on with their operations.
The closure of one of the largest pork processing facilities in the U.S. is among the meat factories closed indefinitely after being affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Smithfield pork processing plant in South Dakota has been forced to close after nearly 300 of its employees were diagnosed with the coronavirus. This single plant alone represents nearly 5 percent of the country’s pork production.
“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply. It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers. These farmers have nowhere to send their animals,” said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and chief executive officer, for Smithfield.
With slaughterhouses and processing plants across the country affected by the pandemic, some farmers have already begun ‘culling’ their flocks in response to the production problems.
The meat industry is also facing criticism for its treatment of its workers. As more and more meat workers are diagnosed with coronavirus, concerns have been raised over a lack of proper safety protections for employees.
“How many more have to fight for their life, how many more families got to suffer before they realize we are more important than their production”, one worker at a Tyson plant told the New York Times. Another worker explained, “our work conditions are out of control. We literally work shoulder to shoulder daily”.
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