Latest Meat Processing Headlines
All the headlines from our Meat Processing Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Meatpacker Fined $175K After Colorado Worker Loses Arm
Sep 7 2021 // Meatpacking giant JBS USA has been issued five citations and fines totaling nearly $175,000 after a worker’s arm was amputated when it got stuck in a conveyer belt at the company’s beef plant in northern...
295K Pounds of Raw Beef Recalled by Nebraska Meat Processor
Aug 3 2021 // An Omaha, Nebraska, meat processor has recalled more than 295,000 pounds of raw beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced...
Meat Producer JBS Paid $11M in Ransom to Cyber Attackers
Jun 10 2021 // Meat producer JBS USA paid the equivalent of $11 million in ransom in response to the May 30 criminal hack against its meat plant operations, the company confirmed in a statement released Wednesday. At the time of payment,...
Union Votes to Strike at S.D. Pork Plant That Had Big Virus Outbreak
Jun 9 2021 // The union at a Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in South Dakota said it would head to contract negotiations armed with the authorization to call a strike. A strike authorization at the Sioux Falls chapter of the...
Nebraska Lawmakers Say ‘No’ to Mandated Virus Protections for Meat Workers
May 19 2021 // Nebraska lawmakers have rejected state-mandated coronavirus protections for meatpacking workers, with opponents arguing that slaughterhouses have already taken precautions and that the pandemic is nearly over. Lawmakers...
Oklahoma Pork Processor Moves to Delay Court Ruling on Slaughter Speeds
May 5 2021 // U.S. pork processor Seaboard Foods wants to pursue a 10-1/2-month delay to a federal court decision that would force it to slow the speed of hog slaughtering at a massive Oklahoma pork plant, according to court...
How Meatpacking Plants’ COVID-19 Cases Hurt Counties
Apr 20 2021 // An estimated 334,000 COVID-19 cases are attributable to meatpacking plants, resulting in $11.2 billion in economic damage, according to a new study led by a researcher at the University of California, Davis. The study was...
Complaint Against Seaboard Puts Focus on Meat Industry’s Virus Response
Apr 19 2021 // A union complaint about whether Kansas-based Seaboard Foods’ Oklahoma meatpacking plant is doing enough to protect workers from the coronavirus could test the industry’s response to the pandemic because the...
Final Settlements Inked in Delaware Poultry Plant Pollution Lawsuits
Apr 14 2021 // A Delaware judge on Monday gave final approval to a $65 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving thousands of residents of a southern Delaware community affected by groundwater contamination from a local...
Many Meatpackers, Other Food Workers Still Waiting for Vaccines
Mar 3 2021 // COVID-19 vaccines are making their way into the arms of U.S. meat and agriculture workers, but companies and union officials say progress needs to be faster after coronavirus outbreaks idled slaughterhouses and sickened...
Democratic House Chairs Urge N95 Mask Requirement for Meatpacking Plant Workers
Mar 2 2021 // Key Democratic House Committee chairs asked the Biden administration to require N95 air filtration masks to protect against the spread of Covid-19 at meatpacking plants, prisons and other risky workplaces. The letter sent...
Worker Injuries Rise as Oklahoma Pork Plant Speeds Up Slaughtering
Feb 23 2021 // One of America’s leading pig slaughterhouses is running faster than ever as meatpackers hustle to keep pork in grocery stores during the COVID-19 pandemic. Plant worker Hector Ixquier says it’s time to slow...
Investigators Focus on Conveyor Belt in Georgia Poultry Plant Deaths
Feb 10 2021 // Problems with the operation of a conveyer belt system that transported chicken for freezing appear to be the cause of a liquid nitrogen release that killed six workers at a Georgia poultry processing plant, federal...
Investigators Seek Cause of Nitrogen Leak that Killed 6 at Georgia Poultry Plant
Feb 1 2021 // The investigation into a deadly liquid nitrogen leak at a Georgia poultry plant continued Saturday with authorities saying they were trying to determine what caused a break in the recently installed system. Six workers...
Minnesota Lawmaker Files Meatpacking Worker Safety Bill
Jan 29 2021 // Minnesota House Democrats have teamed up with meatpacking workers to announce legislation that would protect individuals who work at statewide meatpacking and food processing plants amid the coronavirus pandemic. The bill,...
Tyson not Shielded by Order Keeping Meatpackers Open, Iowa Judge Rules
Jan 4 2021 // A federal judge has rejected an argument by Tyson Foods that is not liable in the death of a worker in Iowa because it was following federal guidance when it kept meatpacking plants open during the coronavirus...
Meatpacking Plants Linked to Up to 8% of Early U.S. COVID Cases
Nov 27 2020 // As many as one in 12 cases of Covid-19 in the early stage of the pandemic in the U.S. can be tied to outbreaks at meatpacking plants and subsequent spread in surrounding communities, according to a study. The findings...
Lawsuit: Nebraska Meatpacking Plant Did Not Protect Workers from Virus
Nov 24 2020 // A Nebraska meatpacking plant has been accused in a lawsuit of failing to take adequate precautions to protect workers from the coronavirus. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the federal lawsuit on Nov. 23 against...
Pork Producer Smithfield Settles Nuisance Lawsuits in N.C. as Court Affirms Verdict
Nov 24 2020 // A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a 2018 jury verdict that led to awarding monetary damages to neighbors of a North Carolina industrial hog operation for smells and noise they said made living nearby...
Tyson Suspends Meat Plant Managers Accused of COVID Betting Pool
Nov 20 2020 // Tyson Foods Inc. said it has suspended managers at an Iowa meatpacking plant accused in lawsuits of betting on how many workers would be infected in a Covid outbreak earlier this year. More than 1,000 of the 2,800...
