Brazilian company JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, has announced it will close its beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado, after an outbreak of the coronavirus among employees that has seen two people die. JBS said its Greeley beef plant will wind down operations this week and will remain closed for almost two weeks until near the end of April. It’s understood that as many as 50 employees at the site have now tested positive for the virus, while two employees have died from complications associated with COVID-19.
Brazilian company JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, has announced it will close its beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado, after an outbreak of the coronavirus among employees that has seen two people die.
JBS said its Greeley beef plant will wind down operations this week and will remain closed for almost two weeks until near the end of April. It’s understood that as many as 50 employees at the site have now tested positive for the virus, while two employees have died from complications associated with COVID-19.
The JBS beef plant in Greeley accounts for about 5% of all the beef produced in the US, with a capacity to slaughter 5,400 head of cattle every day. The Greeley beef plant is the second processing site that JBS has been forced to close in the US after it temporarily closed a site in Pennsylvania.
A number of other meat processing companies in the US have also been forced to close processing sites due to employees contracting COVID-19. National Beef, the fourth-largest beef processor in the US, closed the doors on its beef processing plant in Iowa after several of its employees tested positive for the virus.
Similarly, the largest meat company in the US, Tyson Foods, was forced to temporarily shutter its pork processing plant in Iowa after employees tested positive for COVID-19. Cargill and Smithfield Beef have also been forced to close meat processing sites due to COVID-19 outbreaks among staff.
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