Smithfield Foods Inc. announced Friday that it will shutter operations at its Monmouth, Illinois, plant beginning Monday and until further notice. The company’s location in St. Charles, Illinois, is also being closed until early May so that it can be cleaned and social distancing requirements put into place.
The Virginia-based company says a “small portion” of the Monmouth plant’s 1,700 employees tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The Monmouth plant represents about 3 percent of U.S. fresh pork supplies and also produces bacon.
Smithfield also has closed meatpacking plants in Cudahy, Wisconsin; Martin City, Missouri; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.- READ MORE
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