May 5, 2020

 

US meat plants prepare to reopen amid drop in beef output

 

 

Consumers are encountering purchase limits on meat at the supermarket as the meat sector tries to return to normal after about 3% of employees at meat and poultry processing plants contracted the new coronavirus, reported FOX Business.

 

Major producers including Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods and Cargill had to shutter plants in April after workers contracted the virus. Now facilities including a Tyson Foods pork plant in Logansport, Indiana, will begin to restart this week.

 

But the companies may have to play catch-up because of falling livestock slaughter rates. For example, cattle slaughter fell 37% last week compared to the same period in 2019, according to US Department of Agriculture data.

 

Equipping workers to prevent the spread of the virus could slow down plant activity, too.

 

"Should they have done this five weeks ago? Eight weeks ago? Yes, but the reality is we are where we're at right now," said food supply chain expert Howard Dorman of accounting and consulting firm Mazars USA.

 

According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, 115 meat and poultry processing plants in 19 states reported coronavirus cases. More than 4,900 workers contracted the virus and 20 died.

 

"While the [Logansport] facility was idled, we added more workstation barriers, installed more hand sanitiser dispensers, and did additional deep cleaning and sanitation," Tyson senior vice president of pork Todd Neff said. "We're also now screening employees for additional symptoms and designating monitors to help enforce social distancing, while following the CDC and OSHA's guidance for Meat and Poultry Processing Workers and Employers."

 

Shoppers may see a decline in "options" from Tyson on the meat aisle, a Tyson spokesperson stated last week.

 

The company praised President Trump last week for signing an executive order designed to keep meat processing plants operating under the Defense Production Act.

 

"We have ample supply, but there was a bottleneck caused by this whole pandemic, and it was potentially pretty serious," Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. "The big companies you've been reading about … we've solved their problems."

 

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union President Marc Perrone took aim at the executive order in a statement last week. Perron's organisation represents more than 250,000 meatpacking and food processing workers.

 

"Meatpacking and poultry workers have been working tirelessly through this health crisis so that millions of Americans continue to have access to the food they need," Perrone said. "President Trump's executive order now mandates that they continue to do so, without any language that ensures their safety. Let me be clear, the best way to protect America's food supply, to keep these plants open, is to protect America's meatpacking workers."