By The Numbers: Examining The Cost Of The Pandemic On The Meat Industry

When the coronavirus first started to spread rapidly in the U.S., it hit meat plants hard. From Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Greeley, Colorado, many headlines focused on major outbreak clusters in facilities at some of the largest beef, pork and poultry producers in the country

Although the news about meat plants has slowed down since, the pandemic has not. 

Over the last roughly eight months battling the pandemic, the largest meat companies in the country have spent hundreds of millions on COVID-19 precautions and tens of thousands of workers have been infected, while meat supply and pricing fluctuates.

Precautions put in place after early spikes have helped lower the number of reported cases at these facilities in recent months. Several major companies said they currently have less than 1% active COVID-19 cases in their workforce. But the meat industry has been rocked by the pandemic and its challenges are still expected to continue. 

Keith Belk, head of Colorado State University’s animal sciences department, said the food industry and the supply chain was characterized as a critical need so most places “were sort of under the gun to stay operational and with that came some hard learning experiences.”

“Nobody was prepared for it and they've had a steep learning curve since,” Belk said. “We’re all still learning.”

Using data collected from company websites and documents, USDA, Food & Environment Reporting Network, and other sources, Food Dive looked at how some of the largest meat companies in the country have been impacted by the virus since it began to spread. The companies include Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, Cargill Protein, Perdue Farms, JBS USA, and National Beef. Pilgrim’s Pride, which is majority owned by JBS, is also included. (Hormel was excluded because it is predominantly a CPG company and outsources hog processing.)