IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Tyson Foods suspended operations Wednesday at an Iowa plant that is critical to the nation’s pork supply but was blamed for fueling a massive coronavirus outbreak in the region.
The Arkansas-based company said the closure of the plant in Waterloo would deny a vital market to hog farmers and further disrupt U.S. meat supply. Tyson had kept the facility, its largest pork plant, open in recent days over the objections of alarmed local officials.
The plant can process 19,500 hogs per day, accounting for 3.9% of U.S. pork processing capacity, according to the National Pork Board.
More than 180 infections have been linked to the plant and officials expect that number to dramatically rise. Testing of its 2,800 workers is expected to begin Friday. Cases and hospitalizations in Black Hawk County have skyrocketed in recent days and local officials say the plant is the source of most infections.
In addition to those who have tested positive for the virus, hundreds of workers were staying home out of fear, and the plant had been running at reduced production levels.
Employers have struggled to contain the virus in meatpacking plants, where workers toil side by side on production lines and often share crowded locker rooms, cafeterias and rides to work. While plants have added safety measures, public health experts say social distancing is virtually impossible.
Several facilities have temporarily closed due to virus outbreaks, including a Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a JBS USA plant in Worthington, Minnesota, and a Redwood Farms Meat Processors in Estherville, Iowa. Others have stayed open or resumed production after pauses for testing and cleaning.
On Wednesday, Tyson announced it would close a pork plant in Logansport, Indiana, and that its 2,200 workers would undergo testing after some became infected with the virus. The plant takes hogs from farmers across nine states.
In Texas, state health investigators said Wednesday they have identified 114 cases of COVID-19 “associated” with a JBS Beef plant and are working to determine whether there’s an ongoing source of infection. Department of State Health Services spokeswoman Lara Anton said the company contacted the agency last week to ensure they were doing everything they should to protect staff at the facility in Cactus, in the Texas Panhandle. The plant has not closed.
JBS Beef spokesman Cameron Bruett said in an email “there is no investigation to our knowledge” but that the company would shut down its Cactus location if it was deemed unsafe.
The company contacted the health department last week to ensure they were doing everything they should be to protect its staff, Anton said. Health officials visited the plant Wednesday and confirmed JBS implemented the department’s recommendations and is “following all of the best practices for an essential business to remain in operation,” Anton said.
An estimated 25% of U.S. pork processing capacity has been closed or idled due to reduced operating speed over the past two days, said Steve Meyer, an economist with Kerns and Associates in Ames, Iowa.
As a result, prices are starting to increase and analysts warn that customers could soon see shortages of certain products at grocery stores. At the same time, hog prices are plummeting due to excess supply, devastating farmers.
In Kansas, a critical beef production state, an official said Wednesday that 168 meatpacking workers had tested positive to date. In Missouri, two rural counties that are home to several meatpacking plants reported huge spikes in infections.
Tyson Fresh Meats President Steve Stouffer said its Waterloo closure was driven by “the combination of worker absenteeism, COVID-19 cases and community concerns.” He warned of “significant ramifications” for farmers, distributors and grocers in the supply chain.
