Do you love bacon? You are really gonna hate this news. Smithfield Foods CEO Kenneth Sullivan announced the indefinite closure of one of the largest pork-producing plants in the world due to a coronavirus outbreak among workers. According to Sullivan, the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota provides 5% of the nation’s pork production, or roughly 130 million meals per week.
In a rather grim statement, Sullivan warned of potential meat shortages in the not-too-distant future.
“’The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply. It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers. These farmers have nowhere to send their animals,’ said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and chief executive officer, for Smithfield.”
NPR noted the South Dakota Smithfield plant wasn’t the only one shutting down due to COVID-19. They reported Cargill, JB USA, and Tyson facilities in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Iowa have also recently closed.
According to The Guardian, at least 240 workers have tested positive for COVID-19, which accounts for half the total number of cases in South Dakota.
In addition to coronavirus plant closures, millions of gallons of milk are being dumped in Wisconsin and fresh vegetables are rotting in Florida because newly unemployed consumers aren’t buying as much. Imagine this happening even as we talk about potential food shortages and we see the images of the increasingly long lines at food banks!
Like my colleague Mark Sumner has been saying all along: Don’t panic, prepare.
Now, get to it.