meatpacking plant News

Complaint May Spur Review of Meat Industry’s Virus Response

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A union complaint about whether an Oklahoma meatpacking plant is doing enough to protect workers from the coronavirus could test the industry’s response to the pandemic because Seaboard Foods says it is following recommendations from the …

Smithfield Foods Prepares For Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution to U.S. Employees

CHICAGO, Jan 6 — Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor, said on Wednesday it is actively preparing for COVID-19 vaccine distribution to employees and has medical capabilities at its U.S. plants. Meatpacking workers were among the groups hit hardest …

Fired Tyson Boss Says COVID Office Pool Was a ‘Morale Boost’

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of the Tyson Foods managers fired for betting on how many workers would contract COVID-19 at an Iowa pork plant said the office pool was spontaneous fun and intended to boost morale. Don Merschbrock, …

Tyson Accused of Misleading Interpreters at Virus-Hit Plant

Tyson Foods Inc. is accused of giving incorrect information to interpreters during a Covid-19 outbreak that infected more than a third of workers at a pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa. Plant management directed interpreters to tell the sizable non-English-speaking workforce …

OSHA Inspector Called Ahead of Meat Plant Visit, to Be Safe

A federal safety inspector tipped off a coronavirus-tainted Pennsylvania meatpacking plant before visiting the next day — then failed to issue a citation, according to testimony in a lawsuit accusing the agency of failing to do its job. The inspector …

Outbreak at Iowa Pork Plant Was Larger Than State Reported

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The first confirmed coronavirus outbreak at an Iowa meatpacking plant was far more severe than previously known, with more than twice as many workers becoming infected than the state Department of Public Health told the public, …

Colorado Meatpacking Plant Fined $45K for Worker Death

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found JBS USA responsible for the death of a man who was caught in a conveyer belt system at the company’s Greeley meatpacking plant. The Greeley Tribune reports OSHA cited the company twice …