Analysts say about 33% of the U.S. meatpacking capacity is gone as workers have become sick with COVID-19.
"Farmers are making decisions that are devastating to them. These producers would give you the pigs" rather than have them destroyed and the food not go to consumers, said Howard"A.V." Roth, president of the National Pork Producers Council.
Smith said his priority is the health and safety of the Tyson workers, and that means demanding more stringent oversight and requirements of meatpacking plants. About 90% of the 1,326 people testing positive for COVID-19 in Black Hawk County, Iowa are tied to the Tyson pork processing plant, health officials have said. State data, which lags local reporting, show 1,082 positive cases in Black Hawk, the most in an Iowa county as of Wednesday. Thirteen people in the county have died from the novel coronavirus.
Naig said some Iowa pork producers are euthanizing pigs, since the state has lost processing for about 50,000 pigs a day. “Every day we move closer to widespread depopulation, given that disruption,” said Naig, who along with other Republicans have asked the federal government to provide financial assistance to producers who must destroy animals.
Tyson officials warned Sunday that the country faces a meat shortage as plants close, even temporarily, with potentially “millions of pounds of meat” disappearing from the supply chain.
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