Trump to Order U.S. Meat Plants to Stay Open Amid Pandemic-14,259 workers infected-59 dead-22 plants closed

[Treyfish]

Meat plants shut in Iowa and Pennsylvania amid coronavirus spread


Major US meat companies announced on Monday (7 April) that they have shut three facilities that produce pork and beef in Iowa and Pennsylvania in the latest disruption to the country's food supply chain from the coronavirus outbreak.

by The Pig Site
7 April 2020, at 10:23am
Reduced meat output from the shutdowns threatens to tighten supplies of certain products at a time when demand is rising at grocery stores as the country battles COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Tyson Foods Inc shut a hog slaughterhouse in Columbus Junction, Iowa, for the week after more than 24 cases of COVID-19 involving employees at the facility, according to a statement. The company said it would divert hogs to other pork plants in an attempt to minimise the disruption from the closure.

The facility kills about 10,100 pigs a day, or about 2 percent of the country's total slaughtering capacity, said Steve Meyer, economist for US commodity firm Kerns and Associates.... https://thepigsite.com/news/2020/04/...navirus-spread

 

[Treyfish]

Cargill shuts Pennsylvania meat plant to protect employees against COVID-19


Cargill Inc closed a US meat plant until further notice on Tuesday (8 April), the company said, disrupting the food supply for grocery stores that have seen demand surge as the country battles the new coronavirus.

by The Pig Site
8 April 2020, at 10:46am
The facility in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, produces meat for retail food customers, Cargill said in a statement. The products include ground beef, steaks, beef roasts and pork products that are sold at grocery stores across the country, according to the company's website.

"Our goal is to keep our 900 employees at this case-ready protein facility healthy and minimise risk within the Hazleton community, which has been greatly impacted by COVID-19," Cargill said.

"Our facility will re-open as soon as is it is safe to do so."

Privately held Cargill said it is working with customers, farmers and employees "to keep the food system running."

Other major meat companies including Tyson Foods Inc and JBS USA said on Monday they shut three facilities that produce pork and beef in Iowa and Pennsylvania... https://thepigsite.com/news/2020/04/...ainst-covid-19

 

[Treyfish]

Meat Plant Workers Are Contracting COVID-19 Because of Unsafe Working Conditions


Plus, some Instacart shoppers are seeing bait-and-switch tips, and more news to start your day

by Jenny G. Zhang@jennygzhang Apr 10, 2020, 10:47am EDT


Meat processing plant employees — many of whom are Black, Latinx, and immigrants — are facing exposure to the novel coronavirus while earning low wages and working in crowded conditions. The New York Times reports that several employees have tested positive for COVID-19 at meat plants, with more than 80 sick workers at one pork plant in Sioux Falls, S.D., and some have died in recent days.

Some plants have put into place social distancing measures, like installing barriers between workstations and spacing out employees on the floor. Others have offered financial incentives to keep workers coming back. In Camilla, Ga., Tyson offered plant workers a $500 bonus if they worked April through June without missing a single day.

But for some employees, it’s not worth risking their lives for a few extra hundred dollars and the federal government’s praise for essential workers who continue to “show up and do [their] job” to prevent hiccups in the food supply chain.

“Enough is enough,” Shynekia Emanuel, a Camilla plant worker who has Crohn’s disease, told the Times. “Nobody wants to risk their lives over some chicken.” https://www.eater.com/2020/4/10/2121...19-tyson-foods

 

[Treyfish]

Poultry Worker’s Death Highlights Spread of Coronavirus in Meat Plants


Some employees are coming in sick, and one woman died after being ordered back to work. “Our work conditions are out of control,” a longtime Tyson employee said.

• Updated April 10, 2020, 9:26 a.m. ET
• Annie Grant, 55, had been feverish for two nights. Worried about the coronavirus outbreak, her adult children had begged her to stay home rather than return to the frigid poultry plant in Georgia where she had been on the packing line for nearly 15 years.

But on the third day she was ill, they got a text from their mother. “They told me I had to come back to work,” it said.

Ms. Grant ended up returning home, and died in a hospital on Thursday morning after fighting for her life on a ventilator for more than a week. Two other workers at the Tyson Foods poultry plant where she worked in Camilla, Ga., have also died in recent days.... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/u...mmigrants.html

 

[Treyfish]

Hazleton meat-packaging plant closes with 130 workers testing positive for COVID-19

Union leader at Souderton plant died last Friday

BOB FERNANDEZ
The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)

APR 10, 2020

10:21 AM

Cargill Meat Solutions, a 900-worker plant in Hazleton, Pa., that packages meat in plastic for supermarket shelves in Pennsylvania and surrounding states, has shut down temporarily after 130 hourly workers tested positive for COVID-19 and a rash of employees called out sick, a union leader said.

Also this week, the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to the family of a 70-year-old union steward at the JBS Beef slaughterhouse in Souderton, now shut down for a second week for sanitizing, that he died on April 3 from respiratory failure brought on by the pandemic virus.

The man, Enock Benjamin of Oxford Circle, had checked with a doctor but was not tested for COVID-19. He thought he had a bad case of asthma, and was using a nebulizer as he coughed and lost his appetite, son Cabo said.

By the time the family realized how sick he was, they couldn’t transport him to the hospital and called paramedics. He died soon afterward at home, in his bed. “I’m screaming in the street because nobody is there,” his son said of waiting for about 20 minutes for the ambulance. He broke down while being interviewed by phone.
Meat-processing plants across several states — Colorado, Iowa, and Nebraska along with Pennsylvania — are reporting COVID-19 outbreaks. A federal food inspector in New York died from the disease last month. And at least four meat plants in Pennsylvania have rece... https://www.post-gazette.com/busines...s/202004100111

 

[Treyfish]

Health officials investigate beef plant over COVID concerns


today

GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — Health officials are investigating working conditions at a beef plant in northern Colorado where more than 30 employees have tested positive for COVID-19.

Weld County’s health department said Thursday that concerns at the JBS USA facility include the proximity of workers to each other and employees working while they are sick. If the plant does not comply with the county’s public health order, the plant could be closed but compliance is the “preferred solution”, the statement said.

“Conversations continue with JBS leadership to promote quick compliance,” it said.

On Tuesday, JBS USA CEO Andre Nogeuira told The Greeley Tribune he was confident workers inside the plant were safe from the virus and strongly disputed claims by employees that people were going to work sick.... https://apnews.com/d44bcf4084afe2e14061a7dc366c3e38

 

[Treyfish]

After second death, union calls for closure of Greeley meat-packing plant

“With each passing day, more employees’ lives are at risk”

UPDATED: April 10, 2020 at 5:05 p.m.

A labor union representing 3,000 employees at the JBS meat-packing plant in Greeley has urged Gov. Jared Polis to close the facility following the coronavirus-related death of a second worker there.

The death of Conchas de la Cruz, 60, from coronavirus was announced Friday by United Food & Commercial Workers Local 7. A 78-year-old employee, Saul Sanchez, died earlier in the week from the virus.

“One death is a tragedy — two deaths at the same plant is simply beyond human understanding,” wrote Kim Cordova, the Local 7 president, in a letter to Polis and Weld County health officials. “With regret, we have no option but to conclude that the time for collaborative efforts has ceased. JBS has left us with no alternative.”

A JBS spokesman said the plant will be closed for a three-day holiday weekend, as scheduled, plus Tuesday to ensure employees can be tested. The company says it is spending $1 million on coronavirus testing for its 6,000 employees.... https://www.denverpost.com/2020/04/1...s-coronavirus/

 

[Treyfish]

Worsening Outbreak at Colorado Meat Plant Impacts as Many as 300
2h ago

Isis Almeida and Vincent Del Giudice, Bloomberg News

• (Bloomberg) --

As many as 300 people have been “impacted” by the coronavirus at a Colorado meat plant, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said, adding that 14 people have been hospitalized.

It’s unclear whether that figure of 300 refers to positive cases, or just people who have been quarantined. If it does indicate the number of cases, it would be the largest outbreak yet at a major U.S. food facility.

“There are some 14 people hospitalized. Maybe 200 to 300 of the workforce have been impacted,” Pence said at press briefing Friday.

JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat company, on April 8 confirmed that a team member who worked at its Weld County facility in Greeley, Colorado, died from complications associated with Covid-19. Denver’s ABC 7 news channel on Friday reported a second employee death in Greeley related to the virus, citing a union official....
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/worsenin...-300-1.1420236

 

[Treyfish]

In Nebraska, meat plant workers are afraid to go to work — but can't afford to stay home

"If it closed down, it would be devastating for families in town," said one JBS worker who chose to stay home from April 3 after he developed a cough. He tested positive Friday.

April 10, 2020, 4:44 PM EDT
By Olivia Solon

With 3,500 workers, the JBS beef processing plant is one of the largest employers in Grand Island, Nebraska. It’s also the epicenter of the town’s COVID-19 outbreak: employees make up 28 of the 105 people confirmed to have the virus.

This has created a dilemma for workers whose livelihoods depend on the meat plant that remains open as an essential part of the food supply chain and the local economy at a time when many people are self-isolating: do they risk exposing themselves to the virus at work, or stay home without pay?

"The people who are still working there are very afraid of catching the virus and passing it to our families at home, but we cannot stop going to work because we need to keep food on the table," said one employee, who added she worked in the "intestine area" of the plant and did not wish to be named for fear of losing her job.

NBC News spoke to four current employees at JBS Grand Island, three on the condition of anonymity, as well as two former employees, advocacy groups and a union representative.

They all painted a similar picture: workers scared to go to work but in desperate need of income to feed their families, and widespread absenteeism leading to a reduction in the amount of meat being processed. At the same time, JBS has tried hard to assuage people’s fears with a range of new safety measu.... https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...can-t-n1181361

 

[Treyfish]

US livestock futures slide as coronavirus worries roil market

US livestock futures slumped again on Thursday, volatility roiling the market as it faced resistance over surging stocks and growing concerns that meat packers will close plants in the coronavirus pandemic.

by 5m Publishing
11 April 2020, at 12:00am
Lean hog future prices slipped for a second session on concerns about the domestic glut of hog supplies and mounting worries about processors being shuttered - even temporarily.

That, in turn, is increasing concerns about packers ability to process livestock and poultry in a timely manner.

Smithfield Foods Inc, the world's biggest pork processor, said on Thursday it is temporarily closing a plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because of the new coronavirus, the latest disruption to the US food supply chain from the outbreak.

"The market keeps trying to carve out a bottom, and we don't seem to be there yet," said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist for Zaner Ag Hedge.

Cattle future prices also slid on Thursday, as traders said that meat processing is starting to slow... https://thepigsite.com/news/2020/04/...es-roil-market

 

[Treyfish]

Fears for food supply chain as Tyson meat packing plant in Iowa is closed due to coronavirus 'cluster' and truckers admit they are afraid to travel to New York epicenter

• Fears are mounting of weakness in the food supply chain as pandemic unfolds
• Meat packing giant Tyson has closed Iowa processing plant due to cases there
• Smithfield will close a South Dakota plant over the weekend after 80 cases there
• FDA says there is no evidence of food or packaging transmitting coronavirus
• But disruptions in the distribution system could cause shortages in places
• Some truckers admit they are unwilling to go to hotspots like New York City

By KEITH GRIFFITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

UPDATED: 21:42 EDT, 9 April 2020
Fears are mounting that the coronavirus pandemic could disrupt the American food supply chain, after outbreaks interrupted work at meat processing plants and truckers expressed fears of traveling to hotspots.

The U.S. food supply chain is generally considered robust and well protected, with America producing enough domestically to feed its entire population. But disruptions in processing and distribution could cause temporary shortages of some items, or higher prices on grocery store shelves.

Tyson Foods was forced to suspend operations at a pork processing plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa this week, after more than 24 employees there tested positive for coronavirus.
....https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-cluster.html

 

[Treyfish]

International: Hundreds of US meat workers have now tested positive for coronavirus


Apr 12, 2020 |
(BLOOMBERG) — There’s been a spike in coronavirus cases at meat plants in the U.S., with hundreds of reported infections in just the last week. That’s adding to questions over the fragility of the food-supply chain and raising concerns about worker safety.

As many as 50 people at a JBS SA beef facility in Colorado’s Weld County tested positive, adding to more than 160 cases at a Cargill Inc. meat-packaging plant in Pennsylvania, union officials said Friday. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Friday reported 190 cases at a Smithfield Foods Inc. pork facility, the Associated Press said. The Cargill and Smithfield plants are being closed, while JBS said it will continue operations.

Workers are also starting to die. Two more deaths were reported by union officials on Friday, one at the Greeley, Colo., meat plant and one in Pennsylvania. Both those facilities are owned by JBS SA, the world’s top meat producer, which didn’t confirm the deaths.

“As our communities and our country collectively face the coronavirus challenge, JBS USA has had team members impacted by COVID-19,” the American unit of the Brazilian meatpacker said in an emailed statement. “We are offering support to those team members and their families. Out of respect for the families, we are not releasing further information.”

WH Group Ltd. acquired Virginia-based Smithfield, the world’s largest pork producer, in 2013 for $6.95 billion. As Smithfield can’t export sausage, ham and bacon from its U.S. factories because China prohibits imports of processed meat, WH Group opened a $116-million factory in Zhengzhou that will produce 30,000 metric tons of those meats when it reaches full capacity next year.

While it’s unclear whether the deaths and other cases have anything to do with the workplaces, the news exposes the vulnerability of global supply chains that are needed to keep grocery stores stocked after panic buying left shelves empty. President Donald ***** and Vice President Mike Pence both addressed the sudden jump in cases at meat plants when speaking to reporters on Friday....
https://antiguaobserver.com/internat...r-coronavirus/

 

[Treyfish]

....The South Dakota Department of Health said 293 of the county's total cases involve "individuals who work at Smithfield Foods." That's up from 239 announced cases involving Smithfield on Saturday.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem issued a public health emergency for Minnehaha County on Friday after the county's confirmed cases increased to 352. Smithfield Foods announced in a news release on Sunday that it would be closed until further notice due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The plant is the largest hot spot of cases in the state....https://www.argusleader.com/story/ne...ty/2978060001/

 

[Treyfish]

APRIL 12, 2020 / 12:20 PM
Smithfield shutting U.S. pork plant indefinitely, warns of meat shortages during pandemic


Tom Polansek
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers.

Slaughterhouse shutdowns are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, crimping availability of meat at retail stores and leaving farmers without outlets for their livestock.
......

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said on Saturday that 238 Smithfield employees had active cases of the new coronavirus, accounting for 55% of the state’s total. Noem and the mayor of Sioux Falls had recommended the company shut the plant, which has about 3,700 workers, for at least two weeks.

“It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running,” Smithfield Chief Executive Ken Sullivan said in a statement on Sunday. “These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKCN21U0O7

 

[bertrand789]

La soci?t? Smithfield Foods ?l?ve 14 millions de porcs par an et transforme la viande de 27 millions de porcs. En 2006, la soci?t? a produit 2,68 millions de tonnes de viande de porc et de 630 000 tonnes de viande bovine.

Il appartient depuis septembre 2013 au groupe chinois WH Group
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield_Foods
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield_Foods

Pigs and poultry are not susceptible for SARS-CoV-2
https://www.pigprogress.net/Health/A...CoV-2-568490E/



C'est, une boite chinoise, donc qui d?cide de la fermeture ou pas, le local ou ?

 

[Treyfish]

Top Pork Producer Warns of Meat Shortfall as It Shuts Key Plant

By
Isis Almeida
and
Matt Day Updated on April 12, 2020, 1:36 PM EDT

• Smithfield closes South Dakota pork facility after virus cases
• ‘Impossible’ to keep grocers stocked if plants are shut: CEO

The world’s biggest pork producer is shuttering a major U.S. plant indefinitely after a coronavirus outbreak among employees, with the company warning that closures across the country are taking American meat supplies “perilously close to the edge” of shortfalls.

Smithfield Foods Inc. will idle its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, pork-processing facility, which accounts for 4% to 5% of U.S. production, the company said in a statement Sunday. The move comes after state officials reported more than 200 cases of Covid-19 for plant employees, adding to a spike in infections that’s seen hundreds of American meat workers get sick. Plants have been forced to shutter or reduce output.

“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,” Smithfield’s Chief Executive Officer Ken Sullivan said in the statement. “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running.”

While it’s unclear whether the meat-employee infections have anything to do with the workplaces, the news exposes the vulnerability of global supply chains that are needed to keep grocers stocked after panic buying left shelves empty. The shuttered plants and sick workers are adding to other disruptions caused by the virus that’s making it harder for food to get from farm to table. Trucking bottlenecks, and snarled port traffic have also contributed to why shoppers are seeing empty shelves.

.....

....“Unfortunately, Covid-19 cases are now ubiquitous across our country. The virus is afflicting communities everywhere. The agriculture and food sectors have not been immune,” Sullivan said. “We have continued to run our facilities for one reason: to sustain our nation’s food supply during this pandemic.”

Workers in other points of the food-supply chain have also started to get sick. In all likelihood, the number of cases will keep going up at meat plants, farms, warehouses and packaging factories across the globe. That’s pointing to an acute contradiction between the need to keep people safe, while also ensuring that the world has enough food.

....

Still, there is a risk to continued production. When a worker gets sick, the employee and every person they’ve come into contact with has to be quarantined. Plants also needs to close for deep cleanings. A Cargill Inc. plant in Pennsylvania has also been closed temporarily because of an outbreak among employees.

Hundreds of U.S. Meat Workers Have Now Tested Positive for Virus

Some companies also had to slow down plants that are set up to supply restaurants, instead of supermarkets. Sanderson Farms Inc., the U.S.’s third-largest chicken processor, said earlier this month that it would run plants that process big birds for the food-services industry “well below capacity,” according to CEO Joe Sanderson.

....

If more cases mount and an increasing number of plants are forced to idle, it’s difficult to say what the tipping point will be in terms of supply shortfalls.

“We have a stark choice as a nation: we are either going to produce food or not, even in the face of Covid-19,” Sullivan said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...virus-concerns

 

[Treyfish]

Coronavirus Concerns Rise as Ohio Valley Meatpacking Workers Fall Sick


By: Liam Niemeyer | Ohio Valley ReSource
Posted on: Friday, April 10, 2020

HINTON, W.Va. (OVR) — As the number of coronavirus cases surge across the country, some meatpacking facilities have been temporarily shuttered due to workers falling ill to the virus. Three workers in Georgia have even died.

With workers at some Ohio Valley facilities now testing positive for the virus, worker safety advocates are raising concerns about how adequately workers are being protected and the implications for the food supply.

West Virginia’s poultry and livestock industries bring in the large majority of the state’s agricultural revenue, with poultry and eggs bringing in approximately $387,884,000 in 2017. Most of that production happens in the state’s eastern panhandle in places including Pendleton County, where Steve Conrad raises turkeys for a regional cooperative.

He said a worker tested positive for the coronavirus last week at the cooperative’s poultry processing facility across the state border in Hinton, Virginia. While Conrad believes the situation at the facility is under control, the potential for spread of the virus at such processing facilities could be substantial.

“I would think it would spread like wildfire, to tell you the truth, if it’s as infectious as what they say it is,” Conrad said. “The people are standing probably within three feet of each other as either they’re taking the meat off the bones or taking the feathers off the carcass, and pulling the guts out.”

He said the cooperative has taken measures such as removing microwaves used by workers at the facility’s cafeteria, using masks in the facility, and monito..... https://woub.org/2020/04/10/coronavi...ers-fall-sick/

 

[bertrand789]

?tats-Unis: le prix du porc baisse

? la suite de Covid-19, les prix des porcs aux ?tats-Unis ont chut? d'environ 27% en un peu plus d'une semaine. Vendredi dernier, le prix moyen du porc USDA ?tait de 42,88 $ / quintal (environ 0,874 kg de poids ? l'abattage). Une semaine auparavant, le prix ?tait de 58,89 $ / quintal (environ 1,20 € / kg). En cons?quence, les grands transformateurs comme Tyson Foods ont vu leurs revenus chuter de 35 ? 40%.
https://www.pigprogress.net/World-of...id-19-567404E/

il faut toujours regarder le contexte ...

 

[Treyfish]

translation of above
Pork prices drop in the United States

Following Covid-19, hog prices in the United States fell about 27% in just over a week. As of Friday, the average price for USDA pork was $ 42.88 / cwt (approximately 0.874 kg slaughter weight). A week earlier, the price was $ 58.89 / hundredweight (approximately € 1.20 / kg). As a result, large processors like Tyson Foods saw their revenues drop by 35 to 40%.
https://www.pigprogress.net/World-of...id-19-567404E/

always look at the context ...

 

[Treyfish]

Apr 8, 2020
Global pigmeat market upside down due to Covid-19


Nowhere in the pig industry the coronavirus (Covid-19) appears to hit harder than in the processing and food supply side of the business. Worldwide Covid-19 is having an impact on pig and pork prices, leading to uncertainty.
It also caused the Dutch-based processor to temporarily ‘freeze’ its Pig Index Guarantee (PIG) system as from yesterday. The system allows participating pork producers to receive a bonus in case the prices Vion pays do not match those paid abroad. Once the market situation goes back to normal, the PIG system will be resumed.

USA: pig prices going downhill


As a result of Covid-19, US pig prices dropped by roughly 27% in just over a week’s time. Last Friday, the USDA average pig price stood at $ 42.88/hundredweight (about € 0.874 kg slaughter weight). One week prior, the price was at $ 58.89/hundredweight (about € 1.20/kg). As a consequence, large processors like Tyson Foods saw their revenues drop by 35-40%.

This is partly caused by sudden Covid-19-related unemployment in the US market, causing quite a number of consumers making more conscious decisions as to what to buy.
..What impact is the pandemic having on the global pig sector and how are they dealing with it.

China: pork imports continue despite Covid-19


In China, business grew despite Covid-19. Total pork imports have grown strongly over the last few months, Germany’s Top Agrar reported. In January and February, pork imports doubled to reach 720,000 tonnes in total.

It does not mean that Covid-19 has had no impact on the market at all, as some importers are facing bankruptcy, Boerderij wrote. As domestic sales dropped during Covid-19 and because some imported pork shipments could not be pushed to the market immediately, their cash flow minimalised...https://www.pigprogress.net/World-of...id-19-567404E/