World's Biggest Pork Processing Plant Closes Due to Coronavirus

be closed for at least two weeks. South Dakota did not have a stay at home order in place, and workers there had been calling for more personal protective equipment. Alex Gangitano, reporter at The Hill, joins us for more. Thanks for joining us, Alex, thanks for having me. I'm going to talk about this pork processor, Smithfield Foods in South Dakota. There's concerns about food supply right now after an outbreak. They're forced them to close down. This outbreak

of COVID nineteen. Their reports have said that about three hundred of the employees at this pork processing plant have come down with coronavirus and it led them to close down who knows how long, probably at least a couple of weeks, maybe so. People can get better and they can clean up, but there's concerns that this pork processor could affect the food supply. I think they're the biggest pork processing facility in the country. They account for up to five of US pork production. Alex tell us a

little bit more about this. Smith Field itself is the world's biggest pork processor, and this closed plant, like you said, is five percent of the pork production in the US. So the CEO of Smithfield has said it will be at least two weeks that they're closed, and he actually right away warned of potential meat shortages. We've seen type in food cargild GBS. Other meat facilities also have to shutter some of their plants because workers have gotten sick.

The interesting thing about this Smithfield plant is it actually accounts for over half of South Dakota's overall coronavirus cases are just workers at this plant alone. So it will be interesting to see, you know, how long they actually do shut down. I wonder if two weeks was thinking a little too positively here with how bad the situation is, especially considering the report to hear about people who actually

get sick. Two weeks is a conservative estimate of them getting better, so it could be longer for the workers themselves. And a lot of the conversation around this goes back to ppe personal protective equipment. There was calls before this actually happened for more of that equipment for these processing plant workers, and they said that there's no social distancing for them there at the plant. They're working in very

close proximity to other people. They're already calls, like you said that situations that these plants before we even knew what the coronavirus was, were too tight of quarters, you know, and people who were working on top of each other and didn't feel safe. And now there aren't masked for them. The workers aren't standing six ft apart from one another.

They're still using their break rooms, which they're all in a closed room together that is probably relatively small in comparison to the people have to be having to stand six feet away. So we've heard calls now from consumer advocacy groups and labor groups that have said, what's up to the Trump administration and the Labor Department to provide these especially because these are truly essential workers, you know, in order to keep the food supply in our country.

Flowing and make people feel comfortable about the food supply and the safety of the meat they're buying at the grocery store and the pork they're buying. There needs to be these personal protective equipment available to these folks and more precautions in place. The FDA has tried to calm those worries about people getting sick from buying these products

and whatnot. People have said it's more dangerous to go to the actual supermarket and pick up these products than actually getting sick from the food itself, so there should be no worry on that front, at least. I spoke to a scientists who agreed with the FDA and said that he is still actively looking for evidence of food born coronavirus transmission, you know, just to be extremely shure, but basically, at this point, is more dangerous to go

to the grocery store. I guess that get sick by another person that might be in there and infect you than it is to eat meat that you buy at

the grocery store. And so I think people hopefully feel better about that, But then there's always the general fear and anxiety that so much of the country is experiencing right now that you cure closures plants like this, you hear about these cases that so many of the workers having it, and so maybe you're less likely to buy these foods just out of fear, which doesn't help of course getting food and people staying satisfied, but also the

overall supply chain and getting food moving off the shelves and into people's homes. So you know, it hurts all of that, right, and you know people have that image in their heads already empty shelves in the stores, and so concerns about food supply are legitimate. Right now, it doesn't seem like there's an emergency on that front, but who knows how long this last. I know the National Park Producers Council already said that their industry has been

decimated by this. Shutdowns, restaurant closures, labor shorders, all of that, and wrapped in all of this, we look at a bunch of states. I think the statistic was Americans are at stay at home orders. South Dakota. The governor there was one of the ones that had resisted ordering a stay at home order. This was Governor Christie Nohem, So she's getting a lot of heat from that as well.

This processing plants in particular is located in Sioux Falls, and the mayor there said that I'm trying to do the best I can, but without a state wide order, it's basically means nothing. Her point was that situation at one part of South Dakota is obviously extremely far away from another town in South Dakota, So why trees and all at the same level as opposed to having a

more targeted approach. But then there's also the fact that it might take somebody who lives in one part of the state could be a matter of miles away from the closest hospital, and so you have to think about it from that level too. That's where she's getting a lot of put back. You know, in such rural states right now, hospital, the hospital beds and workers aren't as

plungey fall if there's an outbreak like that we've already seen. Yeah, Governor no Um said that South Dakota is not New York City, so that's probably influencing her decision on that front. I think the biggest thing there to happen recently she announced a clinical trial of high droxy chloroquine, So we'll see how this works out. But I know that the work processing plant right now is closed and these concerns about food supply are gonna only get bigger depending on

how long it stays closed. Alex Gangitano, reporter at the Hill, thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me. Have a good one. I'm Oscar Ramrors and this has been your daily coronavirus update. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories, you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday. So follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast.