Articles by Tom Polansek

Tyson Foods to Close Iowa Meat Plant as More Workers Catch COVID-19

Tyson Foods Inc. said on Thursday it will temporarily close an Iowa pork plant due to the coronavirus pandemic, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered slaughterhouses to stay open to protect the country’s food supply. Meat processors like …

Coronavirus Cases Surge in Reopened Colorado Beef Plant, Worker Dies

COVID-19 cases at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado have more than doubled “in a number of days” and a sixth employee died of the virus, a union official said on Thursday, underscoring the risks of U.S. meat plants reopening. …

Unions Push Back on Trump Plan to Order Meat Processing Plants to Stay Open

President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered meat-processing plants to stay open to protect the food supply in the United States, despite concerns about coronavirus outbreaks, drawing a backlash from unions that said at-risk workers required more protection. With concerns about …

5,000 Meat, Food Plant Workers Exposed to Coronavirus, Union Says

More than 5,000 U.S. meat and food-processing workers have been infected with or exposed to the new coronavirus, and 13 have died, the country’s largest meatpacking union said on Thursday. The statistics reflect how the contagious respiratory illness has spread …

Meat Plant Closures, Absenteeism Rise With Workers’ Fear of Coronavirus, Lack of Safety

CHICAGO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba — At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the new coronavirus, according to a meat inspector. In Colorado, …

EPA Again Declares Weedkiller Glyphosate Is Not Carcinogenic

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it finished a regulatory review that found glyphosate, the most widely used weed killer in the United States, is not a carcinogen. The conclusion reaffirms the agency’s stance on glyphosate, the key …

New Hog Slaughterhouse Rules Please Firms, Worry Food Safety Advocates

U.S. food safety and the health of plant workers will be at risk from new federal rules that allow meat companies to slaughter hogs as fast as they want and shift the role of government inspectors, food and environmental advocates …

Weed Killer Chemical Glyphosate Is Not a Cancer Agent, Says EPA, Contradicting Juries

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that glyphosate, a chemical in many popular weed killers, is not a carcinogen, contradicting recent decisions by U.S. juries that found that it caused cancer in people. The EPA announcement reaffirms earlier …

Government Relief Bypasses Farmers Who Lost Stored Crops in Floods

The Black Hawk military helicopter flew over Iowa, giving a senior U.S. agriculture official and U.S. senator an eyeful of the flood damage below, where yellow corn from ruptured metal silos spilled out into the muddy water. And there’s nothing …

U.S. Hog Farmers on Alert Over African Swine Fever Disease

U.S. hog farmers are ramping up safety procedures and leaving animal-feed ingredients imported from China in storage in an attempt to keep out a highly contagious swine disease that is sweeping through Asia and Europe. U.S. government officials said in …