Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/category/covid-19-and-meatpacking/)
Mindy Brashears, the former head of the USDA's agency overseeing meatpacking plants, has been largely quiet about her agency’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, in exclusive interviews, she addresses the criticism the USDA put food production over worker safety.
A team of third-party experts will help reduce employee coronavirus exposure and prepare for potential future outbreaks.
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.