Meat packing plants were among the hardest hit in the first few weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. But while alarmist warnings about interrupted food supply chains have largely disappeared since then and supermarket meat boxes are now fully supplied, we are informed how the virus has spread to those facilities. According to a recent report, more than 10,000 food processing giant Tyson Foods workers have contracted COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.
This surprising number comes from an examination conducted through the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), which was published on Thursday, July 30. The report also found that nearly 50,000 meat packers, food processors and farmers in the United States have contracted COVID-19 since March.
On the same day the report was published, Tyson Foods announced competitive plans to fight COVID-19 by launching weekly coronavirus tests on site for all workers at its nearly 150 production facilities in the United States. This makes Tyson one of the first major U.S. employers. In having interaction in such normal and expansive tests of your workforce, according to the Washington Post. Tyson also plans to rent a leading medical officer and two hundred nurses to administer coronavirus tests, according to his statement.
“While the safeguards we have implemented in our services work well, we remain vigilant to ensure the protection of our team members and are comparing tactics to do more,” said Donnie King, president of Tyson Foods Group and CEO. The ad.
“The company often monitors active COVID-19 instances involving company team members as well as case titles in communities where the company is inconsistent,” Tyson Foods said in a statement. They also stated that less than one consistent with the food giant’s penny of the workforce, or 120,000 team members, lately has an active COVID-19.
The CDC has made clear that there is no evidence that coronavirus is obtained from food purchased from your local supermarket. Therefore, news from inflamed food processors does not mean that there is a greater threat to those who buy packaged meat. The ultimate urgent challenge is the adverse effects of COVID-19 outbreaks on food source chains.
Strong increases in processing plants in March and April raised serious considerations about source satisfaction and demand, with fast burger chains on their menu and grocery stores restricting meat purchases, all due to outbreaks in meat packaging services. In April, Tyson said “millions of pounds of meat” would disappear from grocery store shelves with the closure of meat processing services due to COVID-19 outbreaks among workers.
Tyson’s client brands come with Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm and Sara Lee and saw their revenues drop by 15% in this year’s quarter due to the pandemic, according to Forbes. While considerations for food source disorders have disappeared, we now know how widespread contagion has spread. For encouraging food source news, see Wait to see those hard-to-find groceries on shelves.