President Trump on Tuesday declared meat processing plants “critical infrastructure,” in an effort to ensure that facilities around the country remained open as the government tried to prevent looming shortages of pork, chicken and other products as a result of the coronavirus.
In an executive order issued late Tuesday, Mr. Trump said recent closures of meat processing facilities “threaten the continued functioning of the national meat and poultry supply chain, undermining critical infrastructure during the national emergency.”
Over the past few weeks, meat executives have complained that they have faced pressure from the local authorities to close plants. “We’ve been tried and convicted already in certain spaces,” Steve Stouffer, a Tyson executive, said in an interview this month.
In some cases, local health authorities have ordered plants to close, or companies have agreed to take such steps after pressure from state officials. Some shuttered plants have already started to reopen. Last week, JBS resumed production at its beef plant in Greeley, Colo., after deep-cleaning the facility and asking workers to stay in quarantine for two weeks. – READ MORE
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