COVID-19 impacts Mo. meat production facilities

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COVID-19 impacts Mo. meat production facilities

Fri, 05/15/2020 - 02:11
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MILAN – Smithfield Foods, one of the biggest meat producers in the country, is operating its plant in Milan “in a manner that contributes” to the spread of the coronavirus, a federal lawsuit filed in Kansas City alleges. The suit, brought by a plant worker identified as “Jane Doe” and by a nonprofit that advocates for plant workers, accuses Smithfield of failing to provide workers with sufficient protective equipment, forcing them to work shoulder to shoulder, giving them insufficient opportunities to wash their hands, discouraging them from taking sick leave, and failing to implement a plan for testing and contact tracing. “Put simply, workers, their family members and many others who live in Milan and in the broader community may die – all because Smithfield refused to change its practices in the face of this pandemic,” the suit states. The lawsuit alleges “Smithfield is so unwilling to acknowledge its responsibilities to its workers and the communities where it operates that it…

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