Meat Processing Plants Suspend Operations After Employees Fall Ill

Tyson Foods says it has actually suspended operations at its pork plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, imagined in February 2013, after more than 2 dozen employees got sick with COVID-19

Ryan J. Foley/AP.

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Ryan J. Foley/AP.

Tyson Foods says it has suspended operations at its pork plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, envisioned in February 2013, after more than two dozen workers got sick with COVID-19

Ryan J. Foley/AP.

Numerous meat processing plants around the U.S. are sitting idle this week due to the fact that workers have been infected with the coronavirus. Tyson Foods, among the country’s biggest meat processors, says it suspended operations at its pork plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, after more than two lots workers got sick with COVID-19 National Beef Packing stopped slaughtering cattle at another Iowa plant, and JBS USA closed down work at a beef plant in Pennsylvania.

Most farms and food companies are continuing to run during the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s concern that the coronavirus could spread among workers doing a few of the most labor-intensive jobs, including meat processing.

Christine McCracken, a leading meat industry expert with RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness, informed NPR through email that these plant closings aren’t yet having a considerable effect on the overall supply of meat to customers, but there’s increasing concern in the market about employee lacks.

” The majority of processors I work with have actually seen a considerable increase in absenteeism,” McCracken composed. “Whether that is due to real COVID-19 problems, child care concerns (with the closure of schools) and even worry of contracting the illness it is uncertain. In many cases, the decline in available employees is extreme.”

In a declaration launched Monday, Tyson Foods stated it is taking a variety of measures to reduce the risk of infection. The business is buying protective face coverings for staff members, increasing the spacing or setting up dividers in between employees inside its plants, and setting up camping tents or outside spaces for staff members to utilize throughout breaks. In some cases, these measures are slowing down production.

A handful of employees at a JBS plant in Greeley, Colo., have actually tested positive for the coronavirus. According to the Greeley Tribune, numerous employees didn’t appear for work on Monday in demonstration of the lack of securities for workers.

McCracken said meat processors are attempting to get ready for employee scarcities by working with more employees and by cross-training existing staff members to do extra jobs but that the business have had “restricted success” with these procedures.

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