Agriculture secretary on impact of COVID-19 on food markets
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on concerns over food supply chain, precautions suppliers are taking to prevent spread of coronavirus.
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A fourth food inspector with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has died from the coronavirus following outbreaks across the country’s meat processing plants, according to a report Wednesday.
A USDA food inspector based in Dodge City, Kan., died after contracting COVID-19, acting president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 45, Paula Schelling, told Bloomberg. It was unclear where the virus was contracted. The union did not identify the inspector, per the request of the family.
This comes as at least 14 meat processing plants plan to reopen this week. Half of those are operated by Tyson Foods Inc.
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President Donald Trump listens as Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 15, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
There’s been an estimated 40 percent reduction in meat processing capacity nationwide, Jason Lusk, the head of the agricultural economics department at Purdue University, told NPR, meaning that about 200,000 hogs per day are ready for slaughter but instead left on farms.
Millions of pigs will have to be euthanized, as hog farmers are left with nowhere to sell their ready-to-market livestock, NPR reported Thursday. Hogs grow quickly, and about six months after birth, they’re too large for processing and won’t be accepted by most pork plants.
On Friday, the USDA announced 14 plants – including beef, pork and poultry processors – were reopening this week. The plants are in Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Washington, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Minnesota.
Tyson has agreed to cut prices by 30 percent on some its beef products this week. Shoppers have faced rising grocery costs amid the pandemic.
President Trump, evoking the Defense Production Act, issued an executive order April 28, deeming meat processing plants a part of the country’s critical infrastructure and directing them to stay open as concerns mounted that the U.S. food supply chain will be disrupted because of the contagion.
Pork producers are facing euthanizing animals due to help offset the financial loss from the COVID-19 pandemic. PHOTO/MITTI HICKS/Fox News
Meat processing plants normally employ thousands, often working side by side carving meat. Such environments, according to medical professionals, increased the risk of catching the virus even as companies took steps to protect workers.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union estimated more than 10,000 meat processing workers nationwide have either become infected or been exposed to the coronavirus, according to Bloomberg. At least 30 have died after contracting COVID-19. At least 30 plants around the country have been forced to shut down at some point within the last two months.
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Meanwhile, 123 USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service employees remained in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for the virus, the USDA said in a statement Tuesday. Another 171 field employees stayed home from work after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.
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