Chicago | Reuters — Two prominent U.S. Senate Democrats are pressing America’s top meatpackers to disclose by month’s end how much pork, beef and chicken they shipped to China during the coronavirus outbreak while warning of possible meat shortages at home. The request from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker increases scrutiny of companies such […] Read more
U.S. senators question packers over exports to China during pandemic
USDA shows record pork exports to China in April, raising questions about rising U.S. meat prices
Pork packer considering Moose Jaw’s ex-beef plant
Donald's Fine Foods announces 'feasibility study'
A potential buyer’s study could soon show whether a former beef packing plant in southern Saskatchewan has the bones to support a pork processing operation for cull sows. Richmond, B.C.-based Donald’s Fine Foods, which since 2010 has operated the Thunder Creek Pork hog plant at Moose Jaw, announced last week it plans to run a […] Read more
JBS resumes second shift at Alberta beef plant
Out of 650 COVID cases at plant, 11 are 'active'
Meat giant JBS’s Alberta beef packing plant has resumed two daily shifts as of Thursday, as fewer than a dozen of its 2,600-plus employees are now sidelined by COVID-19. The JBS plant at Brooks, about 170 km east of Calgary, is “slowly returning to two shifts as of today,” the company said Thursday in a […] Read more
As meat plant infections rise, Canada lets packers choose when to close
Beef plants at heart of Alberta's largest COVID-19 community outbreaks
Winnipeg | Reuters — In Cargill’s High River, Alta. plant, supplier of more than one-third of Canada’s beef, 391 workers were sick with COVID-19 when the company suspended operations, according to provincial health officials. But Maple Leaf Foods decided to idle a poultry plant for eight days, in Brampton, Ont., after just three workers were […] Read more
COVID-19 surges at reopened JBS Colorado beef plant, union says
A sixth worker has died, UFCW local chief says
Chicago | Reuters — COVID-19 cases at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado have more than doubled “in a number of days” and a sixth employee died of the virus, a union official said on Thursday, underscoring the risks of U.S. meat plants reopening. The beef plant at Greeley, about 65 km north of Denver, […] Read more
JBS reopens Minnesota pork plant to cull pigs
Chicago | Reuters — Meat producer JBS said Wednesday it was reopening a Minnesota pork plant shuttered by the pandemic to euthanize up to 13,000 pigs a day for farmers, not to produce meat for consumers. U.S. farmers have been forced to cull livestock as they run short of space to house animals after some […] Read more
Trump orders U.S. meat processing plants to stay open
Advocates call for protective equipment for plant workers
Washington/Chicago | Reuters — President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered meat-processing plants to stay open to protect the food supply in the United States, despite concerns about coronavirus outbreaks, drawing a backlash from unions that said at-risk workers required more protection. With concerns about food shortages and supply chain disruptions, Trump issued an executive order […] Read more
COVID-19 forces Tyson to shutter two major U.S. pork plants
UPDATED — Reuters — Tyson Foods is shuttering two pork processing plants, including its largest in the United States, to contain the spread of the coronavirus, further tightening meat supplies after other major slaughterhouse shutdowns. The closures are limiting the amount of meat the U.S. can produce during the outbreak and adding stress on farmers […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Lean hog, live cattle futures fall on plant shutdowns
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. hog and live cattle futures eased on Wednesday, with the cash market for the animals weak as processing plants were forced to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, traders said. Tyson Foods will indefinitely suspend operations at its largest U.S. pork plant to contain the spread of the coronavirus, […] Read more
Canada sees no beef shortage, but prices may rise due to coronavirus
JBS plant at Brooks dials back to one shift
Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters –– The Canadian government is not expecting a beef shortage despite the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in certain meat-packing plants, though prices may rise, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Trudeau added that beef producers are placing a priority on supplying the Canadian market before exporting products. Canada, one of […] Read more