As COVID-19 continues to spread, it is causing more economic disruptions. Meat processing is a serious one because meat packing plants are great areas where disease can spread easily due to the conditions. As a result, following an outbreak of the current pandemic, another major pork plant is going to shut down as WAFF reports.
Tyson Foods suspended operations Wednesday at an Iowa plant that is critical to the nation’s pork supply but had been blamed for fueling a massive coronavirus outbreak in the community.
It had been running at reduced levels of production due to worker absenteeism, but will stop production until further notice this week, KCRG reported.
The company said the indefinite closure of the Waterloo, Iowa, plant would deny a vital market to hog farmers and further disrupt the nation’s meat supply. Tyson had kept the facility, its largest pork plant, open in recent days over the objections of local officials.
The plant can process 19,500 hogs per day, accounting for nearly 4% of U.S. pork processing capacity, according to the National Pork Board. (source)
It is unfortunate that such things have to happen, but it is also necessary for public health. It is important to try to “stay open”, but not at the cost of endangering a lot of people.
Pork prices will go up, but this is just an inconvenience for Americans. Rather, considering that China depends on US pork imports, a topic I have covered before in the Shoebat archives, things should get very interesting.