Latest Meat Processing Headlines
All the headlines from our Meat Processing Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Tyson Gets OK to Use Employees, Technology for Safety Inspections at Meat Plant
Oct 28 2020 // Tyson Foods said on Tuesday it plans in January to have company employees take on duties from more than a dozen federal inspectors at a large Kansas beef plant, after getting a U.S. government waiver. Tyson said the change...
Utah Meatpacking Plant Had 441 COVID Cases, 1 Death
Oct 12 2020 // A newly released inspection report has revealed that a coronavirus outbreak at a meatpacking plant in northern Utah was more widespread than local health officials previously reported. The Utah Occupational Safety and...
Meat Plant Workers Being Denied Workers’ Compensation for COVID-19: Reuters
Sep 29 2020 // Saul Sanchez died in April, one of six workers with fatal COVID-19 infections at meatpacker JBS USA’s slaughterhouse in Greeley, Colorado, the site of one of the earliest and deadliest coronavirus outbreaks at a U.S....
Iowa Beef Plant Fine After Coronavirus Outbreak: $957
Sep 25 2020 // Iowa regulators have issued their first citation to a meatpacking plant with a large coronavirus outbreak that sickened its workforce — a $957 fine for a minor record-keeping violation. The outbreak at the Iowa Premium...
Coronavirus Safety: U.S. Behind Global Rivals in Protecting Meat Plant Workers
Sep 22 2020 // The U.S. government is falling behind global rivals when it comes to protecting meatpacking workers from Covid-19 infections, even though the nation’s plants were among the first to confront rampant cases across...
Kansas Health Dept.: Meatpacking Plants Have Highest Number of Active COVID Cases
Sep 11 2020 // Meatpacking plants and correctional facilities continue to be the main sites of active COVID-19 clusters in Kansas, with each reporting thousands of cases, according to data released on Sept. 9 by the state health...
OSHA Cites Smithfield Foods For Lax Coronavirus Safety for Meat Plant Workers
Sep 11 2020 // The U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday it cited Smithfield Foods for failing to protect employees from the coronavirus, making it the first major U.S. meatpacker to face a fine after outbreaks at slaughterhouses...
Reuters Report: How COVID-19 Swept Brazilian Slaughterhouses of Top Meatpacker
Sep 9 2020 // JBS SA, the world’s largest meatpacker, has vowed to keep the world fed during the coronavirus pandemic. Executives say the company has added more than 15,000 new workers in Brazil this year to crank out cuts of...
Tyson Foods to Pilot Medical Clinics for Workers at Some Meat Plants Next Year
Sep 4 2020 // Tyson Foods is planning to open medical clinics at several of its U.S. plants to improve the health of its workers and better protect them from the coronavirus. The Springdale, Arkansas-based company, which processes about...
20% of Meat Plant Workers Infected with Covid in Large Exporter Brazil, Union Says
Aug 19 2020 // One in five workers at Brazil’s meat plants have been infected with coronavirus, according to union estimates. That would make the country home to one of the world’s worst workplace outbreaks. The estimate...
Family Sues Illinois Meatpacking Plant After Man’s Death from COVID-19
Aug 17 2020 // The family of a suburban Chicago woman who died of complications related to COVID-19 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a meatpacking plant where her husband worked and contracted the virus. The family of Esperanza...
OSHA Defends Inspector Calling Ahead to Pennsylvania Meat Plant Before Visiting
Aug 17 2020 // A federal safety inspector tipped off a coronavirus-tainted Pennsylvania meatpacking plant before visiting the next day — then failed to issue a citation, according to testimony in a lawsuit accusing the agency of...
Nebraska Lawmakers Reject Bid for More Safety Restrictions at Meatpacking Plants
Aug 4 2020 // Nebraska’s meatpacking plants won’t have to worry about any new safety restrictions this year, despite outbreaks of the coronavirus among their workers, after a state lawmaker on July 29 failed to secure enough...
56 Workers Positive for Coronavirus at Alaska Seafood Plant
Jul 30 2020 // A seafood processing plant in Anchorage, Alaska has found 56 employees tested positive for COVID-19, marking the latest outbreak in the industry, health officials said. The Anchorage Health Department announced Friday that...
Citing Safety, Union Sues to Block Trump Waivers That Speed Up Poultry Lines
Jul 29 2020 // A food workers’ union filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to block Trump administration waivers that allow poultry plants to operate production lines at a faster pace, arguing the higher speeds endanger employees. The...
Meat Packing Plant Owners Defend Operations During Pandemic
Jul 27 2020 // As part of an investigation into the spread of coronavirus at U.S. meat plants, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker released responses from major producers that defended their operations during the...
Virus Outbreak at Iowa Pork Plant Was Larger than Reported by State
Jul 23 2020 // The first confirmed coronavirus outbreak at an Iowa meatpacking plant was far more severe than previously known, with more than twice as many workers becoming infected than the state Department of Public Health told the...
Workers Turn Into Sleuths to Track Sicknesses Where Employers Keep Covid Data Secret
Jul 22 2020 // Jana Jumpp spends eight hours a day updating a spreadsheet — not for work, but a recent hobby: figuring out how many of Amazon’s 400,000 warehouse workers have fallen sick with the coronavirus. Amazon won’t...
Absenteeism at Meatpacking Plants Tied to Workplace Safety Concerns
Jun 15 2020 // Smithfield Foods Inc. is missing about a third of its employees at a South Dakota pork plant because they are quarantined or afraid to return to work after a severe coronavirus outbreak, according to the workers’...
Union: 44 COVID-19 Deaths Among Meatpacking Workers
Jun 5 2020 // At least 44 meatpacking workers in the U.S. have died from the new coronavirus and another 3,000 have tested positive, according to an estimate released on May 28 by the largest union representing workers. Meat processing...
