“The investigation of the selected subcommittee revealed that former President Trump’s political appointees in the USDA have worked with major meat packaging companies to lead efforts across the administration to force workers to stay in work during the coronavirus crisis, despite dangerous conditions and even prevent the imposition of measures to mitigate the effects of common sense, “said in a statement Thursday the chairman of the commission, US envoy James Clayburn.
The North American Meat Institute, an industrial trade group, criticized the commission’s report as “partisan” and said it “distorted the truth about the work of meat and poultry to protect employees during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“The election committee of the House of Representatives has done the nation a disservice. The committee could try to find out what the industry has done to stop the spread of Covid among workers in the meat and poultry industry by reducing the positive cases associated with the industry, while the number of cases is growing across the country. Instead, the Committee uses 20/20 retrospective data and cherries to support a story that is completely unrepresentative of the first days of an unprecedented national emergency, “said Julie Anna Potts, president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute. .
Ignore the risk
The investigation focused on meat producers Tyson (TSN), Smithfield, JBS USA, Cargill and National Beef, along with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and its response to workers’ diseases. Meat factories became the hearth of Covid’s outbreaks in the first year of the pandemic as workers struggled for long hours in crowded jobs. Initial results from the probe, released last October, showed infections and deaths among factory workers owned by the five companies in the first year of the pandemic were significantly higher than previously expected, with more than 59,000 workers infected and most – a little 269 deaths. The report cites examples based on internal documents from the meat packaging industry of at least one company that ignores doctor’s warnings about the risk of rapid transmission of the virus at their facilities.
For example, the report found that the JBS CEO received an email in April 2020 from a doctor at a hospital near the JBS ‘Cactus facility, Texas, stating: “100% of all Covid-19 patients we have in the hospital are either direct employees or a family member[s] to your employees. “The doctor warned:” Your employees will get sick and may die if this factory continues to operate. “
The emails prompted Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s chief of staff to contact JBS, but it remains unclear whether JBS ever responded to the e-mail, the report said.
“This coordinated campaign has prioritized industrial production over the health of workers and communities and has contributed to tens of thousands of workers getting sick, hundreds of workers dying and the virus spreading to the surrounding areas,” said Clayburn.
“The disgraceful behavior of corporate executives pursuing profits at all costs during a crisis and government officials willing to carry out their orders, despite the resulting damage to the public, must never be repeated,” he said.
In response to CNN’s request for comment, JBS, in an email, did not respond to the doctors’ warning, emphasized by the committee.
“In 2020, when the world was facing the challenge of dealing with Covid-19, many lessons were learned and the health and safety of our team members guided all our actions and decisions. At this critical time, we did our best to ensure the safety of our people who maintained our critical food supply chain, “said Nicki Richardson, spokesperson for JBS USA & Pilgrim’s.
The investigation showed examples of some meat industry leaders acknowledging that transparency regarding weak mitigation measures and high levels of infection in businesses would be a cause for concern.
The report, citing an email from the company, said that on April 7, 2020, National Beef managers discussed avoiding explicit notification of workers when an infected factory worker returned to work with a doctor’s permission, saying that instead, they should “announce the style of the line meeting”, probably referring to announcements made during informal personal gatherings of production line workers, “hoping that this will not cause further panic”.
Meat packaging companies and the United States Department of Agriculture “lobbied together in front of the White House to dissuade workers from staying home or leaving,” the report said.
In addition, meat packaging companies have successfully lobbied USDA employees to advocate for Department of Labor policies that deprive employees of benefits if they choose to stay at home or leave, while seeking isolation from legal liability if their employees become ill or die at work, according to the Report.
The study found that in April 2020, CEOs of JBS, Smithfield, Tyson and other meat packaging companies asked Trump’s cabinet member and then Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue to “increase the need for communication on the importance of our work.” strength to stay at work up to POTUS or Vice President level ”and to clarify that“ fear of Covid-19 is not a reason to quit your job and you are not eligible for unemployment benefits if you do ”.
On April 28, 2020, President Trump signed an executive order ordering meat packaging plants to follow the guidelines issued by the CDC and OSHA on how to protect workers so that processing plants can remain open.
Section Purdue will later send a letter to the managers and heads of meat processing companies.
“Meat processing facilities are critical infrastructure and are essential for the national security of our nation. Keeping these facilities in operation is crucial for the food supply chain and we expect our partners across the country to work with us on this issue. ”
The committee’s report says meat packaging companies and lobbyists have worked with the USDA and the White House to try to prevent state and local health services from regulating coronavirus precautions in factories.
Calling the contents of the report deeply disturbing, a USDA spokesman said that “many of the decisions taken by the previous administration are not in line with our values. This administration is committed to food safety, the viability of the meat and poultry sector and to working with our partners across the government to protect workers and ensure that their health and safety is given the priority it deserves. “
A spokesman for Perdue, who is currently rector of the University of Georgia, said Perdue was “focusing on his new position serving Georgian students” and did not comment on the committee’s report.
Former President Trump did not respond to a request for comment from CNN Business.
False allegations of impending meat shortages
As their workers became ill with the virus, several meat suppliers were forced to temporarily close their plants in 2020, and their company executives warned that the situation would jeopardize meat supplies to the United States.
The report described these warnings as “fragile, if not completely false”.
“Just three days after Smithfield CEO Ken Sullivan publicly warned that the closure of a Smithfield plant was pushing our country dangerously close to the edge in terms of meat supplies to our country,” he asked industry officials to say that “There is a lot of meat, enough. . . for export “, while Smithfield said the same to meat importers, the report said.
The investigation found that industry officials said Smithfield’s statements about cutting off meat supplies “deliberately scare people”.
At the time, food experts told CNN Business that while there is a shortage of meat, sometimes different cuts of meat may not be available.
Tyson said in an email response that he was reviewing the report.
Smithfield said she took “all appropriate measures to protect our workers” when she faced a “first-of-its-kind challenge” two years ago.
“To date, we have invested more than $ 900 million in supporting worker safety, including paying workers to stay home, and exceeding CDC and OSHA guidelines,” Smithfield spokesman Jim Monroe told CNN Business.
“The meat production system is a modern marvel, but it can’t be redirected by pressing a switch. This is the challenge we faced when restaurants closed, consumption patterns changed and pigs were kept on farms where the concerns we expressed were very real and we are grateful that the real food crisis was avoided and that we are starting to we are returning to normal … Have we made every effort to share with government officials our view of the pandemic and how it has affected the food production system? Absolutely, “he said.
Cargill and National Beef were not immediately available for comment.
The commission said its report was based on more than 151,000 pages of documents collected from meat packaging companies and interest groups, interviews with meat workers, union representatives and former USDA and OSHA employees, among others.
– Jennifer Korn of CNN Business contributed to this report
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