American food manufacturer Smithfield Foods shut down its meat processing facility in South Dakota after the pandemic infected over 700 employees. It was also forced to temporarily halt operations in two other meat processing facilities in other regions. However, the company continues to hope that the US government would give clearance for the reopening of its meat plants.
According to Fortune, a company spokesperson of Smithfield Foods announced that three of its meat processing facilities were closed in recent weeks to abide by preventive measures imposed by the US government to contain the pandemic. It was revealed that the company is hoping for clearance to reopen its facilities upon order of local and federal officials. The announcement also claimed that one of its plants might open once the travel restrictions to South Dakota would be lifted.
Last April 12, the company shut down a meat processing facility in South Dakota after the pandemic infected 700 of its employees. Two days after the closure, the company also shut down two of its meat processing facilities in Wisconsin and Missouri since the closure of the South Dakota plant adversely affected its supply chain.
However, it was announced that the South Dakota meat processing plant might reopen once it receives clearance from local and federal officials. Still, the Missouri plant would remain closed pending the reopening of the former. The same mandate would be applied to the Wisconsin facility that would remain closed for two more weeks.
According to Smithfield's Hong Kong-based owner, the closures served as hurdles to the company, especially after it experienced several problems in recent years. In a press release, president and chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods Kenneth M. Sullivan claimed that the closure of its facilities is a part of a growing list of other protein plants that also followed the same measure across its industry.
He claimed that the US has pushed perilously against the terms of the country's meat supply and that grocery stores cannot stock up efficiently after the closures. The said closures were also referred to as disastrous repercussions for many meat processing plants in the supply chain. He claimed that the move would also adversely affect US livestock farmers since they would lose partners that would purchase their livestock.
He added that the pandemic is afflicting communities across the country and that numerous plants already have infected employees. Hence, he said that it continued operations before the closure was mandated to sustain the US food supply amid the pandemic. Sullivan also emphasized that it is the company and similar entities to help feed the country during a trying time.
