COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa — Tyson Foods Inc. CEO Noel White announced Monday the company has suspended production at its Columbus Junction plant “out of an abundance of caution” after “more than two dozen cases of COVID-19 involving team members at the facility” were discovered.
“In an effort to minimize the impact on our overall production, we’re diverting the livestock supply originally scheduled for delivery to Columbus Junction to some of our other pork plants in the region,” White said.
Tyson Foods Inc. is the world’s second-largest processor and marketer of meat. Along with the Perry and Columbus Junction plants, the Springdale, Arkansas-based multinational corporation operates six other plants in Iowa, including factories in Council Bluffs, Independence, Storm Lake and Waterloo. Tyson’s U.S. operations employ about 100,000 workers in 27 states.
White said production at the company’s meat processing plants is “varying” due to “the planned implementation of additional worker safety precautions and worker absenteeism.”
The precautions include “more social distancing” and the “taking the temperature of workers at all of our locations before they enter company facilities,” he said, along with “stepped up deep cleaning and sanitizing of our facilities, especially in employee breakrooms, locker rooms and other areas.”
He said the extra cleaning and social distancing slows the production lines and “sometimes requires suspending at least one day of production.”
Personal protective equipment is also part of the Tyson plan “as we remain open,” White said. “We’re working to secure an adequate supply of protective face coverings for production workers and have implemented interim protocols for temporary protective coverings, while observing food safety.”
The Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Perry employs about 1,300 workers, making it the second largest employer in Dallas County. Tyson workers are classified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers,” according to a letter issued to workers at the plant last week.
See what happens when you don’t control immigration?