Too Many Lives At Risk To Keep Our Meat Supply Safe
Nevin Barich
May 7, 2020
(press release)
–
How many lives is our U.S. meat supply worth? That’s the sobering question all of us need to be asking ourselves, particularly in light of President Donald Trump’s decision last week to sign an executive order giving the USDA the power to invoke the Defense Production Act to keep meat processing plants open to avoid a meat shortage in the country. How many lives? It’s not a question rooted in hyperbole or political bias. It’s based on the fact that these plants are hotspots for the spread of coronavirus. Consider the following recent headlines from Industry Intelligence: The reason these plants are hotspots for COVID-19 is simple: the work involved requires workers to operate closely together, making social distancing difficult if not impossible. Employees at these plant, for example, work shoulder-to-shoulder in refrigerated assembly lines. Additionally, workers need to remain near supervisors to let them know if they need to step away from their line, so that another worker can step in immediately to prevent production from stopping. Many workers say the meat processing companies are doing little to protect them from coronavirus, neither enforcing social distancing nor offering additional protective equipment. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued guidelines calling for physical distancing and other measures to keep workers safe, these guidelines are currently voluntary. Many employees also say they don’t have paid sick leave, health benefits or substantial savings, offering them little assurance should they get infected and incentivizing them to work while sick. “Workers are scared to go to work, but they face an inexcusable choice of going to work and exposing themselves to this pandemic or not going to work and losing their income,” said Hunter Ogletree, a co-executive director of the Western North Carolina Workers Center, which is advocating for workers in local poultry plants. These workers are literally putting their lives on the line. But just how many lives is our meat supply worth? Nevin Barich is the Food and Beverage Analyst at Industry Intelligence, which can help YOU better address your own industry challenges. To arm yourself with the latest market intelligence, contact ClientCare@IndustryIntel.com or call 310-553-0008 if you’re interested in receiving or sharing the IMPACT report with your colleagues or partners.
* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.