Trump orders meat-processing plants to continue operating amid pandemic
Donald Trump signed an executive order late on Tuesday, meant to soften the blow of a chicken and pork shortage among other meat on American supermarket shelves.
Using the Defense Production Act, the president declared that “it is important that processors of beef, pork and poultry (‘meat and poultry’) in the food supply chain continue operating and fulfilling orders to ensure a continued supply of protein for Americans”.
The order essentially forces meat production plants to stay open as Trump and agricultural leaders say the coronavirus outbreak is threatening the country’s food supply. Industry experts warned it could be a matter of weeks before consumers see meat shortages.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported a senior White House official confirmed the administration was working to prevent a majority of processing plants from shutting down for an extended period, potentially leading to an 80% drop in the availability of meat.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before its release.
Trump on Tuesday told reporters that “there’s plenty of supply”, but that supply chains had hit what he called a “roadblock”. The order is meant to lift the block in shielding companies from liability from a previous lack of safety measures or protective equipment.
“It’s sort of a legal roadblock more than anything else,” he said. However, a judge must determine whether coronavirus lawsuits against businesses can move forward.
Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, has infected hundreds of workers at meat-processing plants and forced some of the largest to close. Others have slowed production.
Tyson plants in Texas and Indiana have closed. Other facilities, including a Smithfield Foods pork plant in South Dakota, and a JBS beef plant in Wisconsin, have also announced a temporary shutdown.
The 15 largest pork-packing plants account for 60% of all pork processed in the country, according to the AP.
Earlier this week, Tyson Foods – one of the country’s largest meat producers – warned “the food supply chain is breaking” amid the coronavirus crisis.
“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,” said in a full-page ad on Sunday in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Tyson has closed or reduced production at several facilities throughout the US, where several workers tested positive for the coronavirus, including an Iowa pork-processing plant that was closed on Monday.
According to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents the meatpacking and food processing sector, at least 10 meatpacking workers and three food processing workers have died from the coronavirus. At least 5,000 meatpacking workers and 1,500 food processing workers have been directly affected.
Trump has elevated a looming standoff between America’s meat corporations that have resisted closures and labor unions who have called for increased safety measures, followed by shutdowns, to stop the virus’s spread.
“We only wish that this administration cared as much about the lives of working people as it does about meat, pork and poultry products,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, told Bloomberg.