Trump moves as US faces meat shortages
President Donald Trump will take executive action to order meat processing plants to stay open amid concerns over growing coronavirus cases and the impact on the nation’s food supply.
The order will use the Defence Production Act to classify meat processing as critical infrastructure to keep plants open and prevent a shortage of chicken, pork and other meat on supermarket shelves, despite concerns about workers’ health.
The virus has forced two of the nation’s largest plants, one in Iowa and one in South Dakota, to close and others to slow production.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 1.3 million food and retail workers, said yesterday that 20 foodprocessing and meatpacking union workers in the US have died of the virus. An estimated 6500 are sick or have been exposed to the virus while working near someone who tested positive, the union says.
As a result, industry leaders have warned that consumers could see meat shortages in a matter of days. Tyson Foods Inc., one of the world’s largest food companies, ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times and other newspapers on Monday warning, ‘‘The food supply chain is breaking.’’
‘‘As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain,’’ it read.
Tyson Foods suspended operations at its plant in Waterloo, Iowa, and Smithfield Foods halted production at its plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after an outbreak infected 853 workers.
The 15 largest pork-packing plants account for 60 per cent of all pork processed in the US.
A senior White House official said the administration was trying to prevent a situation in which a ‘‘vast majority’’ of the nation’s meat processing plants might have temporarily closed operations, reducing the availability of meat in supermarkets by as much as 80 per cent.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before its release, said the White House was also working with the Labor Department to provide enhanced safety guidance for meatpacking workers. That will include trying to minimise the risk to workers who may be prone to serious complications from the virus, including strongly recommending those over the age of 65 and with preexisting conditions stay home.
The five-page order, which was developed in consultation with industry leaders, is designed, in part, to provide companies with additional liability protections in case workers get sick.
Trump on yesterday described the issue as a ‘‘legal roadblock.’’ The order, he said, would ‘‘solve any liability problems where they had certain liability problems and we’ll be in very good shape.’’
But UFCW International President Marc Perrone said that more must be done to protect the safety of workers.
‘‘Simply put, we cannot have a secure food supply without the safety of these workers,’’ he said. –AP