America's Largest Meat Companies Lied About These Product Shortages, Alleges New Investigation
The meat industry is in hot water due to a new report released on May 12. In it, the biggest meat companies found in the grocery store including Tyson and Smithfield are being accused of lying about potential "shortages" during the pandemic in order to persuade the government to allow plants to stay open despite coronavirus risks.
It worked, and in April of 2020, an executive order was passed by former President Trump that disregarded infection hazards and kept workers in factories. Rather than save the U.S. from potential food shortages, however, the investigation alleges that the unsafe conditions killed at least 269 workers while companies reaped profits, with some even exporting meat to China.
"Meatpacking companies knew the risk posed by the coronavirus to their workers and knew it wasn't a risk that the country needed them to take," according to the staff report. "They nonetheless lobbied aggressively — successfully enlisting [the U.S. Agriculture Department] as a close collaborator in their efforts — to keep workers on the job in unsafe conditions, to ensure state and local health authorities were powerless to mandate otherwise and to be protected against legal liability for the harms that would result."
The investigation was done by a select subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and indicts Smithfield, Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef. It alleges these companies repeatedly and strategically misled the public regarding a potential crisis of "protein shortages" in the event of factory delay, which the report claims was a "baseless fear."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/america-s-largest-meat-companies-lied-about-these-product-shortages-alleges-new-investigation/ar-AAXf7jE
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