Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/category/covid-19-and-meatpacking/)
Here are some of the important emails to know that Congress obtained during its new investigation into the meatpacking industry.
The Tyson revelation is one finding in a new congressional report that details the myriad ways meat executives and sympathetic government allies influenced federal coronavirus response at the expense of worker safety.
An Office of Inspector General report released Tuesday concluded the two agencies could have done more to ensure the safety of meatpacking plant workers.
The leaders of pork company Smithfield Foods and chicken producer Perdue Farms were in regular contact with government officials as the coronavirus began sweeping through their plants.
The new federal rule comes after many of the largest meatpacking plants have already vaccinated many of its employees.
A House of Representatives subcommittee reviewing the coronavirus pandemic found plants owned by five major meatpacking companies accounted for at least 59,000 COVID-19 cases and 269 deaths — much higher than any previous tally.
The analysis supports what many meatpacking workers and advocates suspected during the early months of the pandemic — working shoulder-to-shoulder coupled with high line speeds contributed to the virus’ spread.
Workers were told their injuries were “break-in pain,” soreness that comes from adjusting to life in a meatpacking plant. But some injuries were severe enough to warrant additional testing and treatment. In one case, a man was pushed to work with what turned out to be a fractured vertebrae.
While consumers pay high beef prices at the grocery store, very little has trickled down to ranchers — in fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the gap between the retail price for beef and the price producers receive is the largest it's ever been. In interviews, eight ranchers in seven states agreed their profits have stagnated or even decreased, while the meatpacking companies — which buy the animals for slaughter, then package the meat to be sold at grocery stores — have benefited.
It’s well-established that Trump administration officials wanted meatpacking plants to keep operating, often with industry pressure, as workers fell ill and died by the dozens. But new emails obtained by nonprofit Public Citizen show Perdue personally lobbying to keep plants open, including pressing Robert Redfield, the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director.