Company Reiterates Sweeping Employee Health and Wellbeing Measures and Stresses Significance of Food Supply Continuity in Fight Against COVID-19
Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced that it will close its Cudahy, WI and Martin City, MO facilities beginning later this week. BladenOnline.com reached out to Smithfield Foods’ representatives and the Bladen County Health Director, Dr. Terri Duncan about the status of the local Smithfield Foods facility.
Although at the time of first publication BladenOnline.com had no response from the Smithfield Foods representative, Gregory Nyham on behalf of Smithfield Foods responded to our inquiries about COVID-19 cases at the Tar Heel plant on Wednesday evening. He stated, ”Out of respect for our employees’ legal privacy, we will not confirm COVID-19 cases in our facilities. Additionally, please see our COVID-19 response page here.”
Dr. Duncan did give us an update on Wednesday.
As of noontime today, Wednesday, April 15, Dr. Duncan said there have been no positive COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases reported at the local Smithfield Foods facility located in Tar Heel, NC. Dr. Duncan explained, if the facility did have an employee with a positive case of the coronavirus, the company is required to report the case to the Bladen County Health Department, even if the employee who tested positive for the virus is not a resident of the county.
Recently Smithfield announced its Sioux Falls, SD facility would remain closed indefinitely. The plant is one of the largest pork processing facilities in the U.S., representing four to five percent of U.S. pork production.
“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply. It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers. These farmers have nowhere to send their animals,” said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president, and chief executive officer, for Smithfield last week in a press release.
“Unfortunately, COVID-19 cases are now ubiquitous across our country. The virus is afflicting communities everywhere. The agriculture and food sectors have not been immune. Numerous plants across the country have COVID-19 positive employees. We have continued to run our facilities for one reason: to sustain our nation’s food supply during this pandemic. We believe it is our obligation to help feed the country, now more than ever. We have a stark choice as a nation: we are either going to produce food or not, even in the face of COVID-19,” he concluded.
Then today, Smithfield released a statement announcing the Cudahy dry sausage and bacon plant will shutter for two weeks. Its Martin City plant, which employs over 400 people and produces spiral and smoked hams, receives raw material from the company’s Sioux Falls, SD facility, which is closed indefinitely. Without these raw materials, the facility cannot continue to run. Smithfield will resume operations in Sioux Falls once it receives further direction from local, state and federal officials. This will also allow the company to bring its Martin City facility back online.
The Cudahy and Martin City facilities are located in close proximity to urban areas in which community spread of COVID-19 has been prevalent. A small number of employees at both plants have tested positive for COVID-19. Employees will be paid for the next two weeks during which time essential personnel will repeat the rigorous deep cleaning and sanitization that have been ongoing at the facilities.
“From farm to fork, our nation’s food workers, American family farmers, and the many others in the supply chain are vital to the security of our country. This is particularly evident as we battle COVID-19 together. Please join me in thanking them,” said Sullivan, today in the release.
“The closure of our Martin City plant is part of the domino effect underway in our industry. It highlights the interdependence and interconnectivity of our food supply chain. Our country is blessed with abundant livestock supplies, but our processing facilities are the bottleneck of our food chain. Without plants like Sioux Falls running, other further processing facilities like Martin City cannot function. This is why our government has named food and agriculture critical infrastructure sectors and called on us to maintain operations and normal work schedules. For the security of our nation, I cannot understate how critical it is for our industry to continue to operate unabated,” he highlighted.
“We are doing everything in our power to help protect our team members from COVID-19 in the workplace. This starts with stringent and detailed processes and protocols that follow the strict guidance of the CDC and extends to things like the use of thermal scanning, personal protective equipment, and physical barriers, to name a few. We are also being explicit with employees: ‘Do not report to work if you are sick or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. You will be paid,’” Mr. Sullivan described.
Yesterday, Sullivan announced the company will provide a $100 million Responsibility Bonus to all its hourly production and distribution center team members in another press release. The $100 million Responsibility Bonus, named for Smithfield’s preeminent guiding principle, is on top of a previous $20 million commitment by the company. Employees who miss work due to COVID-19 exposure or diagnosis will receive the Responsibility Bonus.
Sullivan explained, “Our nation’s food workers – 40,000 of whom are Smithfield team members in the U.S. – are fighting COVID-19 by embracing their responsibility to safeguard America’s food supply during these unprecedented times. As a company and a nation, we should reward those who accept responsibility. To the tens of thousands of heroes in our Smithfield Family, thank you for fighting COVID-19 by putting food on tables across America.”
“As we are rewarding employees for their responsibility, we too have a responsibility to minimize their risks of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace. Our protective measures start with processes and protocols that follow CDC guidance and regular and transparent communication with our employees. But there’s a lot more. We’ve enhanced cleaning and disinfection, added abundant hand sanitizing stations, boosted personal protective equipment, expanded employee health benefits, increased social distancing, installed plexiglass and other physical barriers, implemented thermal scanning equipment, stressed the importance of personal hygiene and restricted all nonessential visitors. All these measures are on top of the extremely hygienic and sanitary environments maintained at all times in our industry for food safety and quality purposes. We’re ensuring our employees know how COVID-19 spreads and how to protect themselves and others inside and outside of our facilities. We are laser-focused on our employees’ health and wellbeing and are immediately taking all necessary actions to protect them,” Mr. Sullivan concluded.
According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19. More information on Smithfield’s COVID-19 response can be found here.
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