JBS S.A., the Brazilian company that's the world's largest processor of fresh beef and pork refuses to confirm the deaths of three employees at its meat processing plants in the United States due to COVID-19 even as it warns of a temporary pork and beef shortage in the country.
JBS made its way into the news over the weekend when with the deaths from COVID-19 of two employees at the meat processing plants in Pennsylvania and Greely, a town in Weld County, Colorado run by its U.S. the subsidiary, JBS USA Holdings, Inc. A previous death was reported at another JBS USA plant. More than 50 people at the JBS USA beef facility in Greely have tested positive for COVID-19.
JBS announced the temporary closure of the Greeley beef production facility from April 13 to 24. Weld County is reeling under a growing COVID-19 outbreak and has reported nearly 740 cases to date.
The Greeley beef facility began slowing down operations at the beginning of the week with a diminished staff to ensure existing products can be used to support food supply needs.
The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting employees of other U.S. meat industry companies particularly hard. Also badly affected by the coronavirus are employees of Smithfield Foods, Inc., the world's biggest pork processor (which has a huge plant at Sioux Falls, South Dakota) and the Cargill Inc. meat-packaging plant in Pennsylvania. The Cargill and Smithfield plants are being temporarily closed while JBS said it will continue operations.
On Friday, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said 238 Sioux Falls employees out of a total of 3,700 are positive for COVID-19. The number of infections account for 55% of the state's total coronavirus cases. Noem and Mayor Paul TenHaken of Sioux Falls has recommended the company shut the plant for at least two weeks. There are more than 160 COVID-19 cases at the Cargill beef packaging plant in in Wyalusing, Pennsylvania.
Smithfield Foods said it's indefinitely closing its Sioux Falls plant due to a surge of COVID-19 cases among employees. Smithfield promised to pay employees for the next two weeks.
"It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running," said Smithfield CEO Ken Sullivan. "This facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation's livestock farmers."
Smithfield has been running its plants to supply U.S. consumers during the pandemic, according to Sullivan.
"We have a stark choice as a nation: We are either going to produce food or not, even in the face of COVID-19," he said.
Smithfield extended the closure of Sioux Falls after initially saying the plant will be temporarily closed for cleaning. The facility is one of America's largest pork processing facilities, accounting for 5% of U.S. pork production.
Smithfield Foods is a wholly owned subsidiary of WH Group of China, a publicly-traded Chinese meat and food processing company based in Luohe, Henan province. WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods in 2013 for $4.72 billion, which at the time was the largest Chinese acquisition of an American company. It is the largest pork producer in the world and the largest meat producer in China. WH Group's businesses include hog-raising, consumer meat products, flavoring products, and logistics.
