bloomberg | A wave of shutdowns at some of North America’s largest meat plants is
starting to force hog producers to dispose of their animals in the
latest cruel blow to food supplies.
Shuttered
or reduced processing capacity has prompted some farmers in eastern
Canada to euthanize hogs that were ready for slaughter, said Rick
Bergmann, chair of the Canadian Pork Council.
In Minnesota, farmers may have to cull 200,000 pigs in the next few
weeks, according to an industry association. Carcasses are typically
buried or rendered.
“This is an unacceptable situation and something must be done,” Bergmann, who is also a farmer, said Thursday.
The culling highlights the disconnect that’s occurring as the
coronavirus pandemic sickens workers trying to churn out food supplies
just as panicked shoppers seek to stock up on meat. Wholesale pork
prices in the U.S. have surged in the past week.
bloomberg | As businesses around the globe buckle under the strain of Covid-19,
the world’s biggest pork producer is fighting not just one highly
contagious virus, but two. And the outcome could determine whether
Americans will have enough hot dogs, bacon, and ham this summer.
Hong Kong-based WH Group Ltd.
is struggling to cope with the virus that causes African swine fever
(ASF), a deadly malady that’s devastated hog herds and helped more than
double pork prices in China, while also spreading to other countries in
Asia and Europe. Like Covid-19, ASF is currently incurable and
researchers have yet to come up with a vaccine. China’s pork production
fell 29% in the first three months of 2020; the swine disease has
slashed the size of the country’s hog herd by about half.
Now the coronavirus is piling on. Smithfield Foods, the Virginia-based subsidiary of WH Group, shut three of its U.S. plants this month because of Covid-19. They include a processing facility in Sioux Falls, S.D., that accounts for about a quarter of the company’s U.S. revenue.
When Smithfield announced the indefinite closure, more than
200 workers were sick; that number has risen to more than 700—almost
half the state’s total. With the Sioux Falls site alone handling about
5% of all hog processing in the U.S., the maker of Farmland bacon,
Farmer John hot dogs, Eckrich sausage, and Armour ham warned of possible
supermarket shortages. “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.
