COVID-19 cases confirmed at 3 Alberta meat-packing plants
Cases have been reported at Cargill, JBS and Harmony — which produce most of Canada's beef

Sarah Rieger · CBC News · Apr 15, 2020

COVID-19 cases have been confirmed at three Alberta meat-packing plants and the union representing workers is asking companies to proactively shut down. (Bryan Eneas/CBC News)

Cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at a third Alberta meat-packing plant, according to the union that represents those workers.

United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union local 401 president Thomas Hesse said three cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at the JBS plant in Brooks, Alta.

At the Cargill plant in High River, there are 38 COVID-19 cases, and in March one worker at Harmony Beef in Balzac tested positive. 

Dedicated testing centre

Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said while local health officials have resolved the situation at Harmony, the number of cases at Cargill have prompted Alberta Health Services to open a dedicated testing centre at that plant this week.

"Local public health has worked with these locations to ensure close contacts are isolated and prevent transmission. There is no risk to the public from food produced in these plants," Hinshaw said.

Hesse said the union has reached out to those plants — as well as Olymel pork plant in Red Deer — to request the companies proactively shut down to keep workers safe.

"They've all said no. But Cargill has in some ways, done what we've asked because of pressure," Hesse said, adding that the plant has reduced operations significantly.

Hesse said 1,000 workers at Cargill have been laid off and another 500 are without shifts.

But John Nash, the North American lead for Cargill Protein, said no layoffs are happening. Instead, he said a second shift at the plant has been cancelled and workers are being allowed to switch shifts if they are healthy and able to work.

1,000 workers temporarily laid off at Alberta meat plant with COVID-19 outbreak, union says

Union says 38 confirmed COVID-19 cases at Cargill meat plant cause for closure


Watch

Cargill responds to union's request to close plant for COVID-19 cleaning


Should Canadians be concerned about beef supply? A Cargill spokesperson says no, even with COVID-19 cases at three Alberta plants. 5:03

Nash said the plant is working with Alberta Health and its own safety officials, and will consider shutting down if necessary. Enhanced screenings, barriers between work stations and other physical-distancing measures have been put in place.

"If it comes to a point where we can't do what we need to do safely, we will not run that facility," Nash said.

A JBS Food Canada spokesperson confirmed its Brooks plant is staying open, and that workers have tested positive in some of its facilities.

"We are providing support to those team members and their families, and we hope they all make a full and speedy recovery. Out of respect for the families, we are not releasing further information," an emailed statement from JBS read.

The company said enhanced health and safety measures have been put in place.

"The food supply is a critical infrastructure industry and we have a special responsibility to maintain operations on behalf of the country. We take this responsibility seriously," the statement read.

Hesse said the plants are built to have workers in close quarters, making physical distancing challenging.

Roughly a dozen meat-packing plants in North America have shut down due to coronavirus.

The industry is a demanding one not withstanding the risk of infection due to close quarters, with workers subject to physical labour and repetitive tasks.

"Workers do work side-by-side ... crowded hallways, crowded locker rooms, crowded lunch rooms, crowded washrooms and of course a crowded production floor," Hesse said.

"This is a very profoundly unique time, and I just don't know why society is prepared to say 'stay home, do everything you can to prevent the spread of this virus' ... but we're allowing a free-for-all in food processing plants and grocery stores."

Cattle group looks for help to weather COVID-19 as meat-packers slow work

Those three plants represent roughly three-quarters of Canada's beef suppliers — Cargill alone, which supplies McDonald's Canada among others, accounts for more than one-third.

A cattle industry group has reached out to the federal government to ask that measures be put in place to slow the supply chain, as plants have to change operations to adapt.

If cases of COVID-19 continue to multiply, labour shortages could affect food supplies and undermine Canada's critical infrastructure, an internal government briefing note obtained by CBC News warns.

Pandemic could affect food supplies, power grids, telecommunications, says government document

The document, prepared by Public Safety Canada, says accelerating rates of illness among Canadians could create labour shortages in essential services.

The two most "pressing" areas of concern, it says, are procurement of medical goods and the stability of the food supply chain.

Nash said Canadians should not be concerned about beef supply at this point but he said pressure to stay open will never lead to the company operating in an unsafe manner.

Coronavirus outbreak closes German meat-packing plant

Days after Germany readied to ease coronavirus restrictions, three districts saw outbreaks that will delay reopening. After COVID-19 infections at slaughterhouses, two states will test all meat-processing workers.



Following a COVID-19 outbreak at a meat processing plant in the town of Coesfeld, near the western German city of Münster, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has become the first to activate an "emergency mechanism" and delay the loosening of lockdown restrictions in the administrative district of Coesfeld until May 18.

As Germany draws down social distancing restrictions, and slowly reopens schools and businesses, the emergency mechanism is designed to stop a COVID-19 outbreak locally before it spreads further by reintroducing restrictions on public life. In most parts of the country, the restrictions are expected to be lifted on May 11.

Read more: Germans rally behind Merkel government's coronavirus response

Also referred to as an "emergency brake," the mechanism is triggered if 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants are detected in a district or city. NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann said that the number of new infections in Coesfeld is now at 61 per 100,000.

Laumann added that schools and day care facilities in the district would be allowed to open as planned on May 11.

The localized spike in cases comes after a test Thursday of 200 employees at the Westfleisch meat processing plant revealed 151 were positive for COVID-19. The company said 13 people have been hospitalized with moderate symptoms, and the rest are isolating with "mild" symptoms.The plant will be closed until further notice.


State authorities orderd Westfleisch to close for the time being

Laumann said the majority of workers were from Romania and Bulgaria, and their shared accommodation in tight quarters was a possible reason for the outbreak.

At the end of April, a similar outbreak at a meat processing plant in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg involved around 200 foreign workers who were infected.

Read more: Cheap meat hard for German farmers to swallow

All NRW slaughterhouse workers to be tested

Laumann said on Friday that an estimated 17,000-20,000 employees in all of the NRW's 35 slaughterhouses will be tested for COVID-19, included all 1,200 workers at the Westfleisch plant.

The health minister added that a smaller outbreak has been found at another NRW meat-packing plant in the town of Oer-Erkenschwick in the Ruhr region, with 33 workers out of 1,250 testing positive.

In the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, health officials on Friday also called for state-wide testing of all slaughterhouse workers.

Earlier this week, 109 workers tested positive at a plant in Bad Bramstedt in the district of Segeberg. As with the other cases, most of the workers come from abroad and live in shared housing near the plant.

The district of Segeberg will also delay the easing of lockdown measures, Germany's DPA news agency reported.

A district in the eastern state of Thuringia also initiated the emergency measurements due to a coronavirus outbreak in an elderly care facility.

wmr/sms (dpa, Reuters, AFP)


Date 08.05.2020
Related Subjects Coronavirus
Keywords coronavirus, covid-19, meat-packing, infections

The meat of the matter: don’t expect shortages in Canada

By Sylvain Charlebois | April 28, 2020

Shutterstock


As COVID-19 ravages communities across North America, many analysts believe meat-packing plants, where employees work close to each other, are the next focal point of the spread of the virus.

We’re likely in the worst of it now. More than a dozen North American meat-packing plants have closed over the last two weeks, with at least five in Canada.

The big meat processing operators in Canada have been affected.

Maple Leaf Foods had four plants affected by COVID-19, and two are back in operation. Protocols are being carefully followed to put plants back in operation as quickly as possible. Closures can be disruptive and, especially for farming, disastrous.


Olymel, controlled by La Coop Fédérée, operates several pork processing plants. Two of its plants were closed for two weeks.

Given the intense production cycle in hog farming, animals needed to be harvested. While other sectors struggle to manage waste, pork processors made vertical co-ordination work so no animals were euthanized.

Throughout the crisis, we should expect to see more of these scenarios erupt.

But we shouldn’t expect meat shortages.

Meat consumption across the globe is down during the pandemic, relieving some of the pressure on meat packers.

The futures market is telling the story, especially for cattle and hogs, as farmers are being paid less for their livestock. Inventories are high enough to provide comfort to the supply chain. And meat sales in Canada have been unusually high since mid-March, when most Canadians were home.

We expect peak barbecue season to be flattened this year, again alleviating pressure on the entire meat supply chain.

But beef, and one packing plant in particular, offers a different story.

The cattle industry has always had a unique culture. Beef and cattle processing in Canada are dominated by a few large players. Cargill Foods operates in High River, Alberta, and Guelph, Ontario. Lakeside Packers in Brooks, Alberta, is operated by JBS Canada, part of a Brazil-based multinational. Both are private companies and tend not to be too forthcoming.

The Cargill plant in High River has been the focus of much scrutiny in recent days.

Unlike other plants affected by COVID-19, Cargill chose to keep operating in High River after seeing employees contract the virus. But it opted to slow down production to allow for cleaning and physical spacing.

Reports now say more than 350 COVID-19 cases have been identified in households linked to the High River plant. That’s a problem.

Similar circumstances are being reported in the United States.

A few issues merit attention. First, many of our plants need to be retrofitted, particularly in the beef industry. Since the beginning of the crisis, all plants less than 10 years old in Canada have avoided COVID-19. That’s a sign. The virus could eventually get in, but modern infrastructure can play a significant preventive role.

Because of automation, robotics and modern maintenance, most European plants have so far been spared the virus. Those with issues have been in operation for decades, with patchwork and provisional operating solutions.

The high-volume, low-margin nature of the agri-food sector puts tremendous pressure on the entire supply chain, particularly in North America. Price volatility also makes things more complicated. There’s barely any room for capital investments.

The High River plant is 31 years old. The Brooks plant is more than 40 years old.

The region needs more processing, either with newer facilities or with more players. But the economics are very poor for any new entries.

The other issue is worker mobility. Many plants hire workers who commute by bus from urban centres to rural plants. Complying with physical distancing rules on a bus can be complicated, if not impossible.

Part of management’s decisions to deal with the pandemic should be making the safety of the community a priority. Maple Leaf, Olymel and other companies made the right decisions to temporarily close facilities to clean and establish safety measures.

Employees at the Cargill plant have continuously, if awkwardly, voiced concerns about work safety. Despite teleconferences and a few interviews, Cargill has failed to be reassuring about the safety of its employees.

COVID-19 will ultimately force management to think more broadly about employee safety, in and out of the plant. But Cargill’s efforts now to mitigate risks and keep employees and the community safe don’t appear to be working.

Meanwhile, employees are talking to the media about concerns while the number of cases in the community continues to grow.

Not wanting to close the plant even temporarily probably makes sense for ranchers who deal with Cargill. But public health and the safety of employees must be priorities.

In 2012, XL Foods in Brooks closed for several days amid the largest food recall in Canadian history. Canadians continued to get their beef while prices remained stable. So we know the market can handle a temporary closure.

In the end, the meat processing industry will be fine, if not perfect, and Canadians will get their meat supplies. •

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.

BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER 

As leaders warned of US meat shortages, overseas exports of pork and beef continued

THIS WOULD APPLY IN ALBERTA TOO 

Kyle Bagenstose, USA TODAY•June 16, 2020


As U.S. meat production plummeted in April following a rash of coronavirus outbreaks and closures at processing plants across the country, industry and political leaders sounded an alarm.

Factory closures were “pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Kenneth Sullivan, CEO of Smithfield Foods, the country’s largest pork producer, warned in a public message April 6.

As closures worsened three weeks later, John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods, put his name on a full page ad in The Washington Post and The New York Times warning that America’s “food supply chain is breaking.”

“Our plants must remain operational so that we can supply food to our families in America,” Tyson said.

The next day, President Donald Trump threw the industry a lifeline. He invoked the Defense Production Act to declare it was crucial to keep meat plants open and operating. He had used the authority just once before: to ramp up production of personal protective equipment. The move elevated American meat processing into a privileged position.

“It is important that processors of beef, pork, and poultry in the food supply chain continue operating and fulfilling orders to ensure a continued supply of protein for Americans,” Trump wrote in his executive order.

But Americans were never at risk of a severe meat shortage, a USA TODAY investigation found, based on an analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture data and interviews with meat industry analysts.

Instead, some critics say, the fear was used to justify the executive order, which provided some liability protection for meatpacking plants. It also created a uniform system of rules, set by the federal government, to keep plants open rather than leave the closure of meatpacking plants to a patchwork of state and local health authorities.

Amid concerns of the spread of COVID-19, a worker restocks chicken in the meat product section at a grocery store in Dallas, Wednesday, April 29, 2020.

“We’ve been very skeptical about these claims around shortages,” said Ben Lilliston, a co-executive director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, which advocates for fair and sustainable food systems. “I think they were able to use the idea of food shortages as leverage to get those two things.”

Federal data reviewed by USA TODAY show that although American beef and pork production did tank in a six-week period stretching from mid-March to the executive order, exports of hundreds of millions of pounds of meat continued. The amount of beef and pork products exported over that time period actually exceeded the amount of lost production when compared with 2019 levels.

Lilliston pointed out the industry also never drew down meat supplies sitting in “cold storage” warehouses in the middle of the supply chain, which he said would have indicated faltering supply.

In fact, red meat and poultry products in cold storage grew by about 40 million pounds from March to April, reaching 2.5 billion pounds, USDA data show.

“Cold storage can tell you something. … If the levels are still pretty high there, that tells you they haven’t tapped into that,” Lilliston said.

Other experts also made a distinction between the “spot shortages” of meat – temporary shortages of some products in some places – that spiked in early May and a truly critical lack of protein-rich products.

“We’re not going to run out of meat,” Steve Meyer, an economist for Kerns & Associates, an agricultural commodities firm in Iowa, told USA TODAY in late April. “Buy what you need, and leave some for somebody else, and I think we’ll all get through this OK.”

Others say it’s more complicated. Economists warn that a sharp curtailment of exports to shore up domestic supplies could harm long-term trade relationships and possibly backfire as companies lose a profit motive to slaughter more animals. And Sarah Little, a spokeperson for the industry group North American Meat Institute, said efforts to stabilize the industry were to ensure that a serious shortage never arrived.

“While there was less variety to consumers, or certain regional areas may have experienced shortages of meat, it wasn’t a widespread shortage,” Little said. “It never got to a point where we thought Americans would not have access to food. That is never something our companies would want to see. And that’s why it was so important to be able to continue operations.”

But Tony Corbo, a senior government affairs representative of the nonprofit Food & Water Watch, said he saw a disconnect between the alarming language the industry used in April and the continued exports.

“There’s this incongruity between the Tysons of the world and the Smithfields of the world wringing their hands, saying this is going to cause all kinds of disruptions to the domestic meat supply, while at the same time behind everybody’s back they’re exporting,” Corbo said.
Production drops as exports rise

In the crucial month leading up to Trump’s executive order, USDA data show beef and pork production was in sharp decline. From March 20 to April 24, the industry produced 171 million fewer pounds of beef and pork than during the same stretch last year.

But the industry exported about 636 million pounds over the same time span, nearly four times the deficit. That number has since grown to more than 1.3 billion pounds exported through early June.

And while the U.S. does export significant quantities of “variety meat” products such as feet and tails that most Americans don’t eat, data from the U.S. Meat Export Federation shows those products accounted for less than 25% of the weight of exports in April.

Joe Schuele, vice president of communications for the federation, said that even among non-variety meats, some pork and beef products are more popular overseas. That includes exports of beef short plate, a tough and fatty meat, to Japan, and pork picnic, a shoulder cut popular in Mexico.

Federal export figures do not detail which cuts are being exported.

Data does show that the overall trends of meat production and export began to diverge by early April and grew further apart leading up to Trump’s executive order. During those several weeks, production of beef and pork dipped below 2019 levels, but exports soared above the amounts seen a year earlier. In the week ending April 23, the industry exported 98.6 million pounds of pork overseas, the second-highest total of 2020.

Lilliston said the continued push to export wasn’t surprising. The nation’s largest meat companies, which also include JBS and Cargill, are now global operations, with products flowing to wherever the most value is to be had, he said.

“It's not their mission to feed U.S. citizens,” Lilliston said. “They view the U.S. as a really important market, perhaps their most important market. But it's not 'Our job is to fill their grocery stores so people have enough to eat.’”

Hli Yang, a Tyson spokesperson, said the criticism was unfair.

“We export responsibly and assess market dynamics, such as COVID-19’s impact in the U.S., before making decisions,” Yang said.

Yang added that the company had been “prioritizing” beef and pork sales in the U.S. market.

“We also voluntarily curtailed beef and pork exports that fit the tastes of domestic consumers to try to meet U.S. demand during this challenging time,” Yang said.

Keira Lombardo, executive vice president of corporate affairs and compliance for Smithfield, said there’s a delay between production and export that meant food exported at the height of the pandemic was “ordered and processed” months before.

“More recently, U.S. exports have declined as a result of lower production amid COVID-19,” Lombardo said.

The White House did not respond to questions about Trump’s executive order for this story, referring the matter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA did not respond to requests for comment.

Exports’ explosive growth

Agricultural economists say that improving domestic supply by limiting exports may not be as simple as it seems.

Over the past several decades, America’s meat industry has increasingly relied on exports for growth and profits. The U.S. now exports more meat than ever before, growing from less than 2% of production in 1960 to about 23% of pork, 16% of chicken, and 11% of beef in 2019, USDA data show.

“Most of the demand for meat has not been inside the United States,” said Jayson Lusk, head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. “It’s been outside the country, so it’s not surprising U.S. producers looking to grow their markets have looked elsewhere to try to find additional customers.”

Buoyed most recently by the Trump administration’s reworking of trade agreements with China and Mexico, 2020 was expected to be a banner year for exports, particularly pork. Farmers had expanded their herds in anticipation, leaving a glut once COVID-19 struck, which required some farmers to do traumatic mass cullings and placed additional pressure on plants to reopen.

Experts also say exportation has become deeply ingrained in the supply chain, down to the farm level. Some animals are primarily raised to send specific cuts overseas, with the remainder of the animal heading to U.S. supplies.

Lombardo, the Smithfied representative, said meat processing facilities are typically equipped to produce specific products, whether for retail, restaurants or exports. Converting them for another use takes time.

“Food supply chains are complex and products for one market cannot always be immediately reconfigured for another,” Lombardo said.

Without an export incentive, domestic supply could also dip, others said.

“I think those considering restricting exports overestimate the extent it would increase domestic consumption and underestimate the adverse economic impact,” said Glynn Tonsor, a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University.

Some remain skeptical that curtailing exports would hurt domestic supply. Roger Horowitz, a history professor and meat industry expert at the University of Delaware, said he believes companies would find a way to make use of all animals parts domestically or transfer costs to consumers, although perhaps for less money.

“Export restrictions could hurt profits, but not American consumers,” Horowitz said.

But Lusk added that any short-term domestic gains realized by curtailing exports could also result in long-term damage to trade relations.

“The issue is that there are real people and real relationships on the other end of those trade deals,” Lusk said. “If one cancels a contract today, do they lose that customer next month? What does that do to the profitability of the packing plant and the pork producers?”
The risks to workers

At the mercy of the economic equation are the nation’s meatpacking workers, who risk contracting COVID-19 in the workplace. While the Trump administration and industry leaders say conditions have improved for employees after workplace safety guidelines were implemented last month, workers continue to fall ill.

By tracking public reports, the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found that 10,000 meatpacking workers had fallen ill by May 5, with at least 45 deaths. Those numbers have since grown to more than 24,000 infections and at least 90 deaths.

For one plant inspector within the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), it didn’t sit well that administration officials raised the specter of meat shortages while exports continued. The FSIS employs several thousand inspectors who visit meatpacking plants daily; at least four have died from COVID-19.

According to the inspector, who spoke with USA TODAY under condition of anonymity, FSIS officials initially addressed inspectors in April and said there was an urgent need to remain on the job, despite the risks of COVID-19.

Tyson Foods installed plastic barriers between worker stations at its meat and poultry plants to protect against transmission of the coronavirus.

“Because the meat supply to all Americans, including the inspectors’ families, kids, and grandkids could fail, leading to widespread meat shortages and malnutrition,” the employee recalled officials saying.

Agency officials later changed the tone of communications and are now simply thanking inspectors for doing their job, instead of citing concerns about food shortages, which the USDA inspector said was appreciated.

But USDA leadership is still using the argument publicly. In a June 9 statement announcing that meat production had returned to 95% of 2019 levels, USDA secretary Sonny Perdue again justified the push to keep meatpacking plants open by citing risks to the domestic food supply.

“I want to thank the patriotic and heroic meatpacking facility workers, the companies, and the local authorities for quickly getting their operations back up and running, and for providing a great meat selection once again to the millions of Americans who depend on them for food,” Perdue said.

Debbie Berkowitz, who spent six years as chief of staff and senior policy adviser at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and is now director of the National Employment Law Project’s worker health and safety program, criticized the administration, saying worker safety has been jeopardized on a false premise.

“They just decided those lives were OK to sacrifice … and for what?” Berkowitz said. So many of (the) plants sent their pork to China. It wasn’t about feeding America.”

Lilliston said the tension between worker safety, domestic supply and export highlights a potential weakness of the modern-day U.S. meat industry. He advocates a reevaluation of how much power rests in the hands of just a few meatpacking companies whose primary mission is to grow exports.

“They’re not ready to give it up. Even when there are problems here domestically,” Lilliston said. “It really shows the power I think in some ways, of that sort of export-above-all mentality.”

No export restrictions, but May dip anyway

Although it was within his power to curtail exports under COVID-19, Trump declined to do so under the April 28 executive order. That broke from an earlier order on personal protective equipment, which invoked the Defense Production Act while telling manufacturers such as 3M that “it is the policy of the United States to prevent domestic brokers, distributors, and other intermediaries from diverting (PPE) material overseas.”

On May 1, CNBC cited current and former Trump administration officials in reporting that Trump was asked about the prospect of restricting meat exports on a private call with meat industry CEOs.

Trump responded that “he was not interested in restricting exports at this time,” CNBC reported.

The White House declined to comment to USA TODAY.

While U.S. meat production rallied, exports destabilized through May.

The amount of pork sent overseas crashed in the week after Trump’s executive order, dropping below 2019 levels. It has since moved back into year-over-year growth, but beef and pork exports have been on a downward trajectory since the executive order.

As meat production now nears 2019 levels, signaling a return toward some semblance of normalcy, the White House did not say if Trump has made any determination under what circumstances he would rescind the order.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Meat shortages were unlikely despite warnings from Trump, meatpackers

USA

Coronavirus committee: Meat companies lied about impending shortage and put workers at risk

Parija Kavilanz -
CNN

At the height of the pandemic, as the coronavirus infected tens of thousands of meat industry workers and caused hundreds to die, executives at the nation’s largest meat producers were aware of the transmission risk in their plants and successfully lobbied the Trump White House and the USDA to circumvent coronavirus prevention measures and regulations, according to the latest findings of a congressional investigation.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which launched its probe in February 2021 into meatpackers’ Covid response, also found that meat processors’ warnings about the nation being on the brink of a meat shortage were not based in fact, and that industry experts at the time believed them to be intentionally misleading.

“The Select Subcommittee’s investigation has revealed that former President Trump’s political appointees at USDA collaborated with large meatpacking companies to lead an Administration-wide effort to force workers to remain on the job during the coronavirus crisis despite dangerous conditions, and even to prevent the imposition of commonsense mitigation measures,” committee chairman, US Rep. James Clyburn, said in a statement Thursday.

The North American Meat Institute, an industry trade group, criticized the committee’s report as “partisan” and said it “distorts the truth about the meat and poultry industry’s work to protect employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“The House Select Committee has done the nation a disservice. The Committee could have tried to learn what the industry did to stop the spread of Covid among meat and poultry workers, reducing positive cases associated with the industry while cases were surging across the country. Instead, the Committee uses 20/20 hindsight and cherry picks data to support a narrative that is completely unrepresentative of the early days of an unprecedented national emergency,” Julie Anna Potts, president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute, said in a statement.
Ignoring the risk

The investigation centered on meat producers Tyson (TSN), Smithfield, JBS USA, Cargill and National Beef along with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and its response to worker illnesses. Meat plants became a hotbed for Covid outbreaks in the first year of the pandemic as workers grappled with long hours in crowded work spaces.

The initial results of the probe, released last October, showed infections and deaths among workers in plants owned by those five companies in the first year of the pandemic were significantly higher than previously estimated, with over 59,000 workers infected and at least 269 deaths.

The report cited examples, based on Internal meatpacking industry documents, of at least one company ignoring warnings by a doctor of the risk of rapid transmission of the virus in their facilities.

For example, the report found that a JBS executive received an April 2020 email from a doctor in a hospital near JBS’ Cactus, Texas, facility saying, “100% of all Covid-19 patients we have in the hospital are either direct employees or family member[s] of your employees.” The doctor warned: “Your employees will get sick and may die if this factory continues to be open.”

The emails prompted Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s chief of staff to reach out to JBS, but it remains unclear whether JBS ever responded to the email, the report said.

“This coordinated campaign prioritized industry production over the health of workers and communities and contributed to tens of thousands of workers becoming ill, hundreds of workers dying, and the virus spreading throughout surrounding areas,” said Rep. Clyburn.

“The shameful conduct of corporate executives pursuing profit at any cost during a crisis and government officials eager to do their bidding regardless of resulting harm to the public must never be repeated,” he said.

In a response to CNN’s request for comment, JBS, in an email, did not address the doctors warning, highlighted by the committee.

“In 2020, as the world faced the challenge of navigating Covid-19, many lessons were learned, and the health and safety of our team members guided all our actions and decisions. During that critical time, we did everything possible to ensure the safety of our people who kept our critical food supply chain running,” said Nikki Richardson, a spokeswoman for JBS USA & Pilgrim’s.

The investigation surfaced examples of some meatpacking industry executives acknowledging that being transparent about the lax mitigation measures and high infections rates in plants would cause alarm.

The report, citing a company email, said on April 7, 2020, managers at National Beef discussed avoiding explicitly notifying workers when an infected plant worker returned to work with physician clearance, saying they should instead “announce line meeting style,” likely referring to announcements made during informal in-person huddles of production line workers, “hoping it doesn’t incite additional panic.”

Meatpacking companies and the United States Department of Agriculture “jointly lobbied the White House to dissuade workers from staying home or quitting,” according to the report.

Further, meatpacking companies successfully lobbied USDA officials to advocate for Department of Labor policies that deprived their employees of benefits if they chose to stay home or quit, while also seeking insulation from legal liability if their workers fell ill or died on the job, according to the report.

The probe found that in April 2020, the CEOs of JBS, Smithfield, Tyson and other meatpacking companies asked Trump cabinet member and then Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to “elevate the need for messaging about the importance of our workforce staying at work to the POTUS or VP level,” and to make clear that “being afraid of Covid-19 is not a reason to quit your job and you are not eligible for unemployment compensation if you do.”

On April 28th, 2020, President Trump signed an executive order directing meat packing plants to follow guidance being issued by the CDC and OSHA on how to keep workers safe, so processing plants could stay open

Sec. Perdue would later send a letter to governors and to the leaders of meat processing companies.

“Meat processing facilities are critical infrastructure and are essential to the national security of our nation. Keeping these facilities operational is critical to the food supply chain and we expect our partners across the country to work with us on this issue.”

The Committee report said meatpacking companies and lobbyists worked with USDA and the White House in an attempt to prevent state and local health departments from regulating coronavirus precautions in plants.

Calling the contents of the report deeply disturbling, a spokesperson for the USDA said “many of the decisions made by the previous administration are not in line with our values. This administration is committed to food safety, the viability of the meat and poultry sector and working with our partners across the government to protect workers and ensure their health and safety is given the priority it deserves.”

A spokesman for Perdue, who is currently Chancellor of the University of Georgia, said Perdue “is focused on his new position serving the students of Georgia” and did not provide a comment on the committee report.

Former President Trump has not responded to CNN Business’ request for comment.
False claims of impending meat shortage

As their workers fell ill with the virus, several meat suppliers were forced to temporarily shut plants in 2020 and their companies’ executives warned the situation would put the US meat supply at risk.

The report slammed those warnings as “flimsy if not outright false.”

“Just three days after Smithfield CEO Ken Sullivan publicly warned that the closure of a Smithfield plant was ‘pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our nation’s meat supply,” he asked industry representatives to issue a statement that ‘there was plenty of meat, enough … to export,” while Smithfield told meat importers the same, the report said.

The investigation found industry representatives thought Smithfield’s statements about a meat supply crunch were “intentionally scaring people.”

At the time, food experts told CNN Business that while there were meat shortages, at times, various cuts of meat might not be available.

Tyson said via an email response that it was reviewing the report.

Smithfield said it took “every appropriate measure to keep our workers safe” when it encountered a “first-of-its-kind challenge” two years ago.

“To date, we have invested more than $900 million to support worker safety, including paying workers to stay home, and have exceeded CDC and OSHA guidelines,” Smithfield spokesman Jim Monroe, said in an email to CNN Business.

“The meat production system is a modern wonder, but it is not one that can be re-directed at the flip of a switch. That is the challenge we faced as restaurants closed, consumption patterns changed and hogs backed-up on farms with nowhere to go. The concerns we expressed were very real and we are thankful that a true food crisis was averted and that we are starting to return to normal…. Did we make every effort to share with government officials our perspective on the pandemic and how it was impacting the food production system? Absolutely,” he said.

Cargill and National Beef could not immediately be reached for comment.

The committee said its report was based on more than 151,000 pages of documents collected from meatpacking companies and interest groups, calls with meatpacking workers, union representatives, and former USDA and OSHA officials, among others.

– CNN Business’ Jennifer Korn contributed to this report

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US Meat shortage: Costco, Kroger, others limit fresh meat purchases at stores


U.S. shoppers face empty meat shelves and supermarkets are setting purchase limits as panic buying and meat production plant shutdowns are disrupting the supply. File photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

May 4 (UPI) -- Panic shopping and shutdowns at meat production plants are prompting major grocery chains to limit the number of fresh meat products customers can buy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Grocery chains Costco, Kroger and others announced temporary limits on meat items, and meat producer Tyson Foods warned Monday that more meat processing plants would be closing due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

Costco said on the company's website that fresh beef, pork and poultry was being classified as "high-demand merchandise" and limited meat purchases to "a total of 3 items per member."

Kroger supermarkets stores may have limited inventory "due to high demand," the company warned on the meat section of its website. Customers were limited to two items of chicken breasts and some pork products.

Texas-based H.E.B. grocery chain announced Friday that stores would limit packages of fresh meat to five per customer.

"To help protect the supply chain in Texas, we've implemented temporary purchase limits on certain items," the company said on its website.

Meanwhile, CEO Noel White of Tyson Foods said in an investor call Monday that the company could continue to face slowdowns and temporary idling of production facilities, due to staff shortages or infection outbreaks.

"We will not hesitate to idle any plant for deep cleaning when the need arises," White said, as reported by CNN Business.

Last week, Tyson Foods suspended operations at its Waterloo, Iowa, plant after almost 200 out of 2,800 workers tested positive for COVID-I9.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that nearly 5,000 workers at 115 meat processing plants across 19 states, or 3 percent of all workers had been diagnosed with COVID-19 between April 9 and 27. Twenty workers have died from the virus, the federal health agency said.

RELATED Farmers start to kill pigs they can't sell to slaughterhouses due to closures

Meat factories feature crowded assembly lines where workers have difficulty distancing at least 6 feet from one another, the CDC said. Without medical leave and to fill production bonuses, "socioeconomic challenges might contribute to working while feeling ill," the agency said.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to invoke the Defense Production Act to order meat processing facilities to remain open during the pandemic and keep the supply chain moving.

But unions say meat facility employees are not given adequate personal protection and are facing returning to the danger of infection.

"They didn't sign up to die for their job," said Kim Cordova, president of the Denver-based United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7.

Colorado has the most deaths, six, among meat processing workers of COVID-19, where more than 245 cases of the infection were confirmed at the Greeley beef-processing plant of Chinese-owned JBS.

"They signed up to be a good employee, to make a living and to have a piece of the American dream. Not live this nightmare," Cordova added.

Other meat processing companies that have closed plants due to COVID-19 include Cargill Ltd., Empire Kosher Poultry Inc., National Beef Packing Co., and Smithfield Food Inc.

AFL calls it 'morally repugnant' to reopen meat-packing plant as COVID-19 cases among workers top 900

AFL president says it's 'reckless, irresponsible' for meat-packing plant to reopen May 4

Joel Dryden · CBC News · Posted: May 01, 2020 8:16 AM MT | Last Updated: May 1

Workers and contractors at the Cargill plant in High River — about 60 kilometres south of Calgary — now represent 908 cases of COVID-19, the province's chief medical officer of health announced Thursday. (Charlotte Dumoulin/Radio-Canada)

Plans are on track for the Cargill meat-packing plant in High River, Alta., to reopen Monday after a two-week closure — but some are unconvinced by the province's assurances that the facility is now safe.

"When we heard that the provincial government had given the green light for Cargill to reopen, frankly, I was shocked," said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

"I think it's reckless, irresponsible and, I would say, morally repugnant.

"The plant should not open until people working in that plant are satisfied it's safe. It should remain closed."

As of Thursday afternoon, 908 Cargill employees had tested positive for the virus, 631 of whom have recovered. One worker in her 60s has died, and her husband has also contracted the virus.


AFL President Gil McGown said Cargill had yet to include workers in its safety deliberations leading up to the scheduled reopening of the facility on Monday. (Manuel Carrillos/CBC)

The company announced Wednesday that the plant would reopen with one shift beginning May 4, saying that safety measures like new protective barriers and restrictions on carpooling had been introduced.

UFCW local 401, which represents the workers at the Cargill facility, said Wednesday that Cargill had not adopted safety initiatives suggested by the union, and would move to pursue legal action to try to keep the plant from opening.

The AFL's McGowan said Thursday that it was difficult for employees to trust those assurances based on how the process has unfolded.

"They've been sidelined, they've been ignored, and now the same thing is happening — the workers were not consulted on these new measures, and now they're saying everything is going to be fine," he said.

"But how on earth can these workers have any confidence in the measures that have been taken given the track record of both the government and the employer in this case?"

Some employees at the plant previously accused the company of ignoring physical distancing protocols and trying to lure them back to work from self-isolation.
'Extraordinary measures'

Speaking during the province's daily press briefing Thursday, Premier Jason Kenney said he was confident "in the competence of our officials."

"It sounds like they are taking extraordinary measures to ensure that the workers are safe [at] the plant," he said.

"I know there are those folks who want us to take zero risk across society in every instance, but clearly food security and our food supply chains constitute an essential service."


Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Thursday that once the pandemic concludes, the province would launch a comprehensive study of what happened at Cargill and at long-term care facilities and other meat plants. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Adrienne South, press secretary for Labour and Immigration Minister Jason Copping, said OHS and AHS officials have been onsite this week and will be again Monday.

Cargill says it has worked with OHS through virtual and in-person tours, and has reassigned lockers to allow for more spacing.

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley, speaking during a press conference held Thursday, said those safety strategies were "bound to fail" without having considered the opinions of employees.

"There is no acceptable risk for a working person. It is not the case that it should somehow be seen as acceptable for over 900 people related to one plant [to test positive]," she said.

"That's not an acceptable risk. This government should see this as a failure on their part to keep these workers safe."


COVID-19 outbreaks at Canadian meat processing plants have led to shutdowns and shift reductions, which could result in less selection and higher prices for consumers. 1:50
Filipino town hall

On Wednesday, provincial and health officials held a telephone town hall with the Filipino community to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has been handled.

Some members of the Filipino community have said they feel unfairly blamed for the outbreak at the Cargill facility, especially after Filipino workers and residents sent a letter to Cargill on April 12 asking for the plant to be closed.

"When you map out the total number of cases, what it looks like is it was likely an exposure that happened at the workplace," said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province's chief medical officer of health, on the call. "And when we track back the cases, there were connections to people who worked in long-term care and some household transmission.

"When I talk about these things, it can sound like we're blaming the people involved … but I don't want people who end up being infected with COVID-19 to ever feel ashamed or targeted."


Cesar Cala, a volunteer with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce, said many Filipinos felt like they were singled out and blamed for the crisis at Cargill. (Cesar Cala)

Cesar Cala with the Philippines Emergency Response Taskforce — a network of volunteers that seeks to support crises in the Filipino community — said some fear still remained in the community prior to Monday's reopening.

"Of course, it's a mix of emotions. People really want to go back to work, because it's their livelihood," Cala said. "But there's still a mistrust with Cargill itself … not all of their concerns were answered."

Biden Launches Plan to Fight Meatpacker Giants on Inflation

Mike Dorning
Mon, January 3, 2022

Biden Launches Plan to Fight Meatpacker Giants on Inflation

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden promised to “fight for fairer prices” for farmers and consumers Monday as he announced plans to combat the market power of the giant conglomerates that dominate meat and poultry processing.

“Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism, it’s exploitation,” 

Biden said. “That’s what we’re seeing in meat and poultry.”

Biden joined Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick Garland to meet virtually with ranchers and farmers to hear complaints about consolidation in the industry, ratcheting up a White House campaign blaming anti-competitive practices in the industry for contributing to surging food inflation.

Biden launched a portal that will allow producers to report unfair trade practices by meatpackers. He also highlighted initiatives the administration is taking to counter meatpackers’ economic power, including $1 billion in federal aid to assist expansion of independent processors and new competition regulations under consideration.

The announcement focuses fresh attention on Biden’s fight with the meat-processing industry and helps cast him as a president willing to take on powerful business interests over consumer prices. Many Democrats are concerned that months of negotiations over Biden’s economic plan have distanced him too much from the most pressing kitchen-table problems facing Americans.

Inflation has swiftly moved to the top of public concerns as the annual rise in consumer prices hit its highest level in almost 40 years. Meat prices, which in November were up 16% from a year earlier, have been the biggest contributor to grocery inflation. Meatpacking industry representatives blame soaring prices on labor shortages, rising fuel prices and supply-chain constraints.

Shares for meat companies were mixed. Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest U.S. meat company by sales, climbed 0.7%, reversing earlier losses. JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat supplier, fell 4%.

Scott Blubaugh, president of the Oklahoma Farmers Union, praised the initiative. “Not since Teddy Roosevelt have we had a president that’s willing to take on this big issue,” he said.

But others were skeptical it would do enough. “The Administration has not announced that it will take decisive enforcement action to protect America’s cattle producers from the harms they’ve been experiencing for the past seven years, and we remain disappointed with that omission,” Bill Bullard, chief executive officer of R-CALF USA, a group that represents independent cattle producers.

Biden didn’t answer a question on whether he would seek to break up large meat-processing companies. His efforts to inject more competition in the industry run counter to decades of consolidation since the late 1970s as the industry shifted to larger plants to cut costs and courts adopted a more permissive interpretation of antitrust law.

Companies including JBS have said that a shortage of workers is affecting operations in every developed nation, limiting production increases and raising costs.

“Labor remains the biggest challenge,” Sarah Little, a spokeswoman for the North American Meat Institute, a trade group, said in a statement. “Our members of all sizes cannot operate at capacity because they struggle to employ a long-term stable workforce. New capacity and expanded capacity created by the government will have the same problem.”

Mike Brown, president of the National Chicken Council, a poultry trade group, said levels of concentration in the sector haven’t changed much over the past 20 years.

“It’s time for the White House to stop playing chicken with our food system and stop using the meat industry as a scapegoat for the significant challenges facing our economy,” Brown said in an emailed statement.

Biden singled out the meat and poultry processing industries for scrutiny in a July executive order on promoting competition across the economy. His top economic adviser later criticized meatpackers for “pandemic profiteering.” The U.S. Agriculture Department also announced plans in June to consider three new sets of regulations on unfair trade practices in livestock and poultry markets, with officials anticipating the proposal of new rules early this year.

The president has placed critics of corporate consolidation in key positions across his administration, including Lina Khan as chair of the Federal Trade Commission and Jonathan Kanter as assistant attorney general for antitrust.

Four large meatpacking companies control 85% of U.S. beef processing capacity, according to data released by the White House. Other meat sectors are also highly concentrated, with four companies controlling 70% of the pork market and 54% of the poultry market, according to the White House.

A fact sheet the White House distributed to reporters asserts that as a result of that concentration, most livestock producers “now have little or no choice of buyer for their product and little leverage to negotiate.” Tyson Foods Inc. reported record profits on its beef processing in quarterly earnings released in November.

In November, ranchers received 36.7 cents for every dollar consumers spent on beef at the grocery store, down from 51.5 cents in 2015, according to the Agriculture Department. Fifty years ago, their share was more than 60 cents, according to the White House.

“This is a decades-long trend that we are seeing,” said Bharat Ramamurti, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “The result, based on the economic literature, is higher prices for folks, fewer options for workers, which means that there’s downward pressure on wages. It also means that there’s less innovation and productivity.”

The aid for independent meat and poultry processors, which will come from Covid relief funds, includes $375 million for gap financing grants and $100 million for guarantees of loans made through private banks, according to the fact sheet.

Ted Schroeder, a Kansas State University agricultural economics professor who specializes in livestock markets, said it’s difficult to forecast the overall impact of Biden’s efforts, but expressed doubt the federal aid for independent processors will alter the market much.

Meatpacking is a cyclical business and processors may soon be squeezed again as droughts and higher feed grain prices drive up cattle prices, he said.

“How can smaller, higher cost, highly leveraged new plants hope to survive through such a market environment in the next few years? I am concerned many will not,” Schroeder said.

Biden to meet with farmers as he seeks to cut meat prices

President Joe Biden waves as he leaves St. Ann Roman Catholic Church after attending Mass in Wilmington, Del., Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

By JOSH BOAK

AP

President Joe Biden will meet virtually with independent farmers and ranchers to discuss initiatives to reduce food prices by increasing competition within the meat industry, part of a broader effort to show the administration is trying to combat inflation.

The White House event occurs Monday afternoon as higher-than-expected inflation has thwarted Biden’s agenda. Consumer prices in November rose 6.8% over the prior 12 months — a 39-year high. Inflation has hurt Biden’s public approval, become fodder for Republican attacks and prompted Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to cite higher prices as a reason to sideline the Democratic president’s tax, social and economic programs.

Biden is building off a July executive order that directed the Agriculture Department to more aggressively look at possible violations of the 1921 Packers and Stockyards Act, which was designed to ensure fair competition and protect consumers. Meat prices have climbed 16% from a year ago, with beef prices up 20.9%.

The administration is targeting meat processing plants, which can shape the prices paid to farmers and charged to consumers. The White House issued a fact sheet saying that the top four companies control 85% of the beef market. In poultry, the biggest four processing firms control 54% of the market. And for pork, the figure is 70% for the four biggest firms

Biden plans to stress the plans to distribute $1 billion from the coronavirus relief package to help independent meat processors expand. He also plans to highlight funding to train workers in the industry and improve conditions, as well as issue new rules for meatpackers and labeling requirements for being designated a “Product of USA.”

The Justice Department and the Agriculture Department will launch a joint effort to make it easier to report anti-competitive actions to the government. The administration will also seek to improve the transparency of the cattle market.

The effort is part of a broader attempt to regain control of America’s economic narrative. Besides inflation, the repeated waves of coronavirus outbreak have dampened people’s opinions about the economy despite strong growth over the past year.

Biden will have an opportunity to highlight the economy’s strengths with the December jobs report being released Friday. Economists surveyed by FactSet expect that the United States added 362,000 jobs last month with the unemployment rate ticking down to 4.1%. Gains of that magnitude would indicate that the U.S. added roughly 6.5 million jobs last year, more than in any other previous year in a reflection of population growth and government spending.

Biden Unveils Plan to Boost Competition in US Meat Industry
January 03, 2022
Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland attend a video conference with farmers, ranchers and meat processors to discuss meat and poultry supply chain issues, on the White House campus, Jan. 3, 2022.

The United States will issue new rules and $1 billion in funding this year to support independent meat processors and ranchers as part of a plan to address a lack of "meaningful competition" in the meat sector, President Joe Biden said on Monday.

The initiative comes amid rising concerns that a handful of big beef, pork and poultry companies have too much control over the American meat market, allowing them to dictate wholesale and retail pricing to profit at the expense of their suppliers and customers.

"Capitalism without competition isn't capitalism. It's exploitation," Biden said. "That's what we're seeing in meat and poultry industries now."

A recent White House analysis found that the top four meatpacker companies – Cargill, Tyson Foods Inc., JBS SA and National Beef Packing Co. – control between 55% and 85% of the market in the hog, cattle and chicken sectors.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speaks during a video conference on the White House campus in Washington, Jan. 3, 2022.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) will spend the $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan to expand the independent meat processing sector, including funds for financing grants, guaranteed loans and worker training, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who was speaking at an event with Biden.

USDA will also propose rules this year to strengthen enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act and to clarify the meaning of "Product of USA" meat labels, which domestic ranchers have said unfairly advantage multinational companies that raise cattle abroad and only slaughter in the United States.

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a virtual meeting on the White House Campus in Washington, Jan. 3, 2022.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, also speaking at the event, said "too many industries have become too consolidated over time," and that the antitrust division of the Department of Justice has been chronically underfunded.

The Biden administration issued an executive order last year that advocated a whole of government approach to antitrust issues.

A central concern in agriculture has been meat prices, which have risen at a time when the White House is fighting inflation. An analysis in December by the White House economic council found a 120% jump in the gross profits of four top meatpackers since the pandemic began.

Reaction to plan

The meat industry has said the White House analysis was inaccurate and criticized the new plan.

National Chicken Council President Mike Brown called the plan "a solution in search of a problem."

North American Meat Institute spokesperson Sarah Little said staffing plants remains the biggest issue for meatpackers and that the White House plan would not address it.

"Our members of all sizes cannot operate at capacity because they struggle to employ a long-term stable workforce," she said. "New capacity and expanded capacity created by the government will have the same problem."

Eric Deeble, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, cheered the plan, calling it a "very positive step to ensure farmers and ranchers receive fair prices."

The anticipated rulemaking under the Packers and Stockyards Act "could have a significant impact," said Peter Carstensen, emeritus professor of law at University of Wisconsin-Madison and former antitrust attorney at the Department of Justice. But he noted that investment in independent processing itself would not address market concentration.

Austin Frerick, deputy director of the Thurman Arnold Project at Yale University, an antitrust research center, said the plan does not go far enough to tackle the power of the top meatpackers.

"I do not believe this (plan) will meaningfully change the concentration numbers," he said.

Virus-Addled Meat-Packing Plant in Colorado Had ‘Work While Sick Culture,’ Authorities Say

BEEFING HARD

JBS shut their beef processing operation on April 15, but not before dozens of workers became infected and at least four died.

JBS IS THE BRAZILIAN GLOBAL MEATPACKING MONOPOLY

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=JBS

William Bredderman Researcher Apr. 18, 2020 

Matthew Stockman/Getty

A “work while sick culture” may have turned a Colorado meat-packing plant into a COVID-19 cluster, a communication from local health authorities suggests.

The Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment sent a letter to the JBS USA facility in Greeley on April 4, and referenced warnings the agency made to company officials on April 2—five days before the first reported death of one of the facility’s employees on April 7. JBS idled the beef processing operation on April 15, but not before dozens more of its 4,500 workers became infected and at least four died.

The missive from County Health Officer Dr. Mark Wallace, obtained by The Daily Beast, noted that he had brought up in the April 2 exchange that some of the plant’s laborers had reported feeling pressured to keep attendance up even when they felt ill.

Nebraskans in Virus Hot Zone ‘Terrified’ by Guv’s Decision
‘JUST LIKE TRUMP’
Marcella Mercer, Tracy Connor


“These concerns expressed to clinicians included a perception by employees of a ‘work while sick’ culture that included managers and supervisors coming to work while sick,” Wallace wrote in the letter, first reported on by local Fox affiliate KDVR.

The doctor went on to order the company to take employees’ temperatures as they arrived on site, to implement social distancing protocols, and to direct the ailing and the potentially exposed to self-isolate at home. The letter ended with a threat should JBS fail to comply.

“If I find evidence of continued violations,” Wallace wrote. “I will seek assistance from the District Attorney to consider criminal actions against you and your staff and/or the Weld County attorney to seek injunctive relief against your company.”

In a statement to The Daily Beast, JBS denied obligating or encouraging workers to show up while exhibiting symptoms.

A Sioux Falls Meat Plant Is Now Worst Virus Cluster in U.S.
SHOCKING

Emma Tucker, Rachel Olding



“No one is forced to come to work and no one is punished for being absent for health reasons. If someone is sick or lives with someone who is sick, we send them home,” said spokesperson Nikki Richardson. “The health and safety of our team members is our number one priority.”

Still, Richardson noted that the federal government has sought to keep food supply chains running amid the pandemic, which she said imposed on JBS a “special responsibility to maintain normal work schedules.”

President Donald Trump acknowledged the scale of the JBS outbreak in his April 10 press briefing, in which he lauded the local response.

“We’re looking at this graph where everything’s looking beautiful and it’s coming down and then you got this one spike,” he said. “Many people, very quickly. And by the way, they were on it, like, so fast, you wouldn’t believe it.”

The Daily Beast previously reported on an outbreak at another of the company’s facilities in Grand Island, Nebraska.

The Brazilian-based food giant, which also controls the brand Pilgrim’s Pride, has been at the center of a number of controversies and scandals. Its two top executives Joesley and Wesley Batista, whose father co-founded the company in 1953, pleaded guilty in 2017 to paying millions in bribes to nearly 2,000 lawmakers in their home country—a major development in the “Operation Car Wash” scandal that rocked the South American country.

Earlier this year, news that the firm had received $67 million in U.S. tax dollars intended to bail out struggling farmers provoked outcry. And in March, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), accused the company of taking advantage of the pandemic to underpay beef producers.


Several meat plants have been crippled by the coronavirus outbreak, including a pork facility in South Dakota, owned by Smithfield Foods, which has become the largest single-source cluster in the country.

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https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=MEAT+PACKING

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