Meat Processing Facilities Hit by COVID-19
LOGANTON – The meat packing industry is taking a hit from coronavirus, but Clinton County’s largest packing plant, Nicholas Meat, remains operational.
A Wednesday story in the agricultural publication Farm and Dairy said meat processing facilities across the country are slowing or suspending production because of sick employees or workers choosing to stay at home.
JBS’s facility in Souderton, PA, announced a two-week production reduction, effective March 30, after several members of management were displaying flu-like symptoms.
JBS’s, near Philadelphia, is described as the largest beef facility east of Chicago, employing more than 1,000 people; it expects to reopen April 14. On Monday of this week Tyson Foods said it had stopped production at a pork plant in Iowa after more than two dozen cases of COVID-19 were confirmed at the plant.
The Farm and Dairy story said, “While COVID-19 is not known to be a food-borne pathogen, employees often work in close quarters in packing plants. So, while the food is safe, the employees may not be.”
Farm and Dairy said workers at packing plants in Nebraska, Mississippi, Colorado and North Dakota have all tested positive for COVID-19.
Nicholas Meat, a meat processing facility employing 350 on the east side of Loganton, remains in production. Contacted by therecord-online, the company released this statement:
Nicholas Meat is a family-owned and operated meat packing facility that provides beef products to major distributors and grocers in Pennsylvania and throughout the country. As a life-sustaining Pennsylvania business, we are committed to doing our part to provide consumers with the food they need. We remain operational and continue to ship our product to our customers. In addition, we are taking every precaution and following state and federal directives to ensure that our employees can perform their jobs in a safe environment.
The Farm and Dairy story said it is unknown at this point how plant shutdowns across the country will impact the supply chain.
