Tyson, Smithfield in probe over COVID cases

A Democratic-led House panel is launching a probe into coronavirus outbreaks at meatpacking plants and whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration adequately enforced worker safety rules.

Representative James Clyburn, who chairs the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, sent letters Monday to Tyson Foods Inc., Smithfield Foods Inc., and JBS USA requesting information on the number of sick employees, facility closures, safety measures and leave policies for when workers tested positive. Nearly 54,000 workers at 569 meatpacking plants in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least 270 have died, Clyburn said in the letters.

Meatpacking companies “have refused to take basic precautions to protect their workers, many of whom earn extremely low wages and lack adequate paid leave, and have shown a callous disregard for workers’ health,” the letters to the companies said.

Tyson shares slipped 0.2 percent in New York trading after earlier falling by as much as 2.7 percent. Brazil-based JBS rose 0.3 percent in Sao Paulo trading, after dropping as much as 1.7 percent following the announcement of the probe.

Clyburn also asked OSHA to explain the relative lack of citations and penalties issued against meatpacking plants under the Trump administration even though the facilities became an epicenter of spread for the virus.

“OSHA issued penalties related to the coronavirus totaling over $3.9 million, but the agency issued only eight citations and less than $80,000 in penalties for coronavirus-related violations at meatpacking companies,” the letter said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Labor said the letter and its request are focused on the

Trump administration’s actions and that the current administration is committed to working with Clyburn to protect workers. On Friday, OSHA issued new guidance implementing stronger workplace protections for the virus.

Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for Tyson, said in a statement that the health and safety of workers is the company’s top priority and that they’ve implemented virus testing and added a chief medical officer to help respond to health guidelines in the wake of the pandemic.

Keira Lombardo, Smithfield’s chief administrative officer, said in a statement that the company has taken “extraordinary measures” to protect employees that exceeded governmental guidelines and that it looks forward to correcting “inaccuracies” about the virus spread at meat plants.

JBS has invested in safety measures and facility modifications and welcomes the opportunity to share “our response to the global pandemic and our efforts to protect our workforce,” according to a statement from the company.

The spreading virus made meat plants one of the early hot spots in the U.S. pandemic, forcing facilities to shut down temporarily.

Meat companies spent hundreds of millions to install workstation dividers, sanitizer stations, temperature scanners and to add medical personnel. The industry has spent more than $1.5 billion on “comprehensive protections instituted since the spring,” according to Sarah Little, a spokesperson for the North American Meat Institute.

Public health studies have suggested the outbreaks in meatpacking plants seeded subsequent spread in the surrounding communities, with one study by researchers at University of Chicago and Columbia University tying as many as 1 in 12 cases of COVID in the early stage of the pandemic to meat processing facilities.