TAR HEEL — Smithfield Foods on Friday said media reports that seek to pit the company against employees “are flat out wrong.”

Rather, the company’s news release said, “The company and its team members all want the same thing, namely, to protect employee health and safety while also safeguarding America’s food supply.”

The Virginia-based pork giant, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based WH Group, is one of several meat companies being watched closely by the American public during the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. Fear grew last week that meat shortages were on the way, with several companies in various states having been forced to stop production.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday declaring meat processing plants “critical infrastructure,” compelling them to remain open and thereby hopefully reduce the risk of shortages. A report Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more than 4,900 workers at meat and poultry processing facilities have been diagnosed with COVID-19, including 20 who have died.

The CDC said its findings were from 115 plants in 19 states that employ about 130,000 workers. With some states not providing data, the numbers are believed to be less than actual. In North Carolina, the Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday 604 cases are confirmed through outbreaks in meat plants in 15 counties. Bladen has been on the list since DHHS first released five counties about two weeks ago.

News was shared April 18 of a worker at the Smithfield plant here having contracted the virus. Since then, Bladen County’s number of cases has escalated from one to more than two dozen. Health departments in Columbus and Robeson counties link more than 50 of their cases to the plant.

Bladen’s Health Department, asked as early as April 20 for information on the volume of workers at the plant that have tested positive, has only given information on the first worker that tested positive. DHHS has also refused to give specific numbers for the Tar Heel plant.

A published report late last week citing anonymous sources said the Tar Heel plant, the world’s largest pork processing facility, was close to being shut down. It was also accusatory of the plant’s protocols.

There’s been no interruption at Tar Heel plant, and a day later the corporate office in Smithfield, Virginia, chose to share another side of the situation.

In its release, the company said, “Demands for things like 100% compliance with all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidance; access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and handwashing stations; robust communication in multiple languages; generous paid leave policies, including full bonus eligibility; and priority access to voluntary COVID-19 testing are totally and completely reasonable. The company agrees!

“At the core of the company’s COVID-19 response is an ongoing focus on employee health and safety and continued adherence with — at a minimum — the CDC and OSHA guidance. Across all its facilities, the company is providing its team members with PPE, including masks and at least temporary face shields. The company believes that the recent executive order will provide priority assistance in securing an ongoing supply of enhanced PPE, most critically permanent face shields, as well as aid the company in securing broader COVID-19 testing for its employees.

“The company has implemented mass thermal scanning and installed physical barriers on its production floors and in break areas. It also continues to explicitly instruct employees not to report to work if they are sick or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms and that they will be paid, including any and all bonuses, when they are quarantined. These measures remain mandatory and nonnegotiable conditions for the company to operate.”

The virus is not foodborne.

The other counties with plants that have an outbreak of the virus are in Bertie, Chatham, Duplin, Lee, Lenoir, Robeson, Sampson, Union, Wilkes and Wilson counties. DHHS has refused to name the plants or the number of workers infected at each. It defines an outbreak as two or more positive cases.

Seven plants are known, according to print and broadcast reports. In addition to the Smithfield plant in Tar Heel, cases have been confirmed at Clinton’s Smithfield Foods plant in Sampson County, Lumber Bridge’s Mountaire Farms plant in Robeson County, Siler City’s Mountaire Farms plant in Chatham County, Mount Olive’s Butterball plant in Duplin County, Sanford’s Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Lee County, and Lewiston Woodville’s Perdue Farms plant in Bertie County.

Smithfield’s plant in Tar Heel employs between 4,400 and 5,000 workers and processes between 30,000 and 35,000 hogs daily. It is estimated production is less given the new requirements related to the virus.

According to Bladen County tax records, Smithfield Packing’s assessed valuation in 2018 was more than $142 million and Smithfield Farmland Corp. was nearly $42 million. They rank first and third among busineses in the county — sandwiching The Chemours Company — and combine for 6.38 percent of total assessed valuation.

https://www.bladenjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/web1_Smithfield-Foods-2.jpg

Alan Wooten

Bladen Journal

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.