SUPPLY CHAIN UNDER THREAT

Smithfield Shutters Fourth Pork Plant Due to Coronavirus Infections

Smithfield’s South Dakota plant is the worst coronavirus hotspot in the country. Now an Illinois plant has closed indefinitely.

The meat processing company Smithfield Foods has closed a fourth plant due to coronavirus infections, this time in Illinois, The Daily Mail reports. An unspecified number of the 1,700 employees at the Monmouth, Illinois facility have tested positive for COVID-19. The plant handles three percent of all pork processing in the United States, and it is the fourth Smithfield plant to shut down, indicating the country’s meat supply chain may suffer. Smithfield’s plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is already the site of the densest coronavirus hotspot in the country, with more than 800 workers infected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the company had offered $500 bonuses for showing up to work at the South Dakota facility during the outbreak.