Tyson Foods, the largest meat company in the US, has issued a stark warning to US consumers that food supply chains are breaking down. In an extraordinary move, Tyson Foods took full page adverts in the New York Times and the Washington Post newspapers to warn that the closure of meat plants across the country due to COVID-19 was ‘breaking’ the food supply chain in the US.
Tyson Foods, the largest meat company in the US, has issued a stark warning to US consumers that food supply chains are breaking down. In an extraordinary move, Tyson Foods took full page adverts in the New York Times and the Washington Post newspapers to warn that the closure of meat plants across the country due to COVID-19 was ‘breaking’ the food supply chain in the US.
Shortages
In the adverts, Tyson Foods chair John Tyson wrote that the company is being forced to shut the doors on many of its pork, beef and chicken processing plants due to COVID-19. The company said the closure of these meat plants will result in millions of pounds of meat disappearing from the US food supply chain and lead to shortages of meat products in grocery stores across the country until Tyson Foods can reopen these facilities.
“In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious food waste issue. Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation,” wrote John Tyson.
“Millions of animals – chicken, pigs and cattle – will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities. The food supply chain is breaking,” he warned.
Tyson added that his family's company had a responsibility to feed the nation, which is just as essential as healthcare. The company said it will pay $60m (€55m) in ‘thank you’ bonuses to 116,000 of Tyson’s frontline workers and truck drivers.
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