The president plans to declare meat-processing plants critical infrastructure amid fears of disruptions to the food supply.
President Donald Trump plans to order meat-processing plants to continue operating, declaring them critical infrastructure as the nation confronts growing disruptions to the food supply, a person familiar with the matter told POLITICO.
Trump will use the Defense Production Act to order the companies to stay open. The government will also provide additional protective gear for employees as well as guidance, according to the person.
Meatpacking plants have become incubators for the virus as employees work side-by-side in dangerous conditions. Twenty meatpacking and processing workers have died from coronavirus, and at least 6,500 have been affected, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
At least 22 plants processing meat from pork to chicken have closed at some point after clusters of employees tested positive for Covid-19, according to UFCW.
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These closures have jammed the food supply chain, leaving farmers with a backlog of hogs ready to be slaughtered and nowhere to put them. Many are euthanizing animals. House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson said Tuesday that he’s heard estimates as many as 160,000 pigs a day need to be culled because of the backup at slaughterhouses.
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President Donald Trump plans to order meat-processing plants to continue operating, declaring them critical infrastructure as the nation confronts growing disruptions to the food supply https://t.co/Jvfd5vXyK8
— POLITICO (@politico) April 28, 2020
What are they going to do if the workers refuse to work?
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