Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) released the responses to their investigation of whether the Big Four meatpackers used the COVID-19 pandemic to increase exports and domestic prices, while failing to maintain worker safety.
The senators stated in a press release Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill and Smithfield Foods “evaded most of the questions sent by the senators.”
“Giant corporate meatpackers Smithfield, Tyson, JBS USA and Cargill have failed time and time again—both during the pandemic and before it—to uphold basic responsibilities of keeping their workers safe, treating farmers fairly, and being transparent with their customers, and their response to our inquiry indicates a continuation of the same dangerous pattern,” said Booker. “These companies clearly cannot be trusted to do what is right for their workers, farmers and customers. It is time to act urgently and legislate critical health and safety protections that will do what these companies are failing to do as well as work to overhaul our broken food system by passing the Farm System Reform Act into law.”
Some of the key findings from the responses:
• None of the companies released information about their production capacity—Tyson stated production capacity “was significantly reduced for all proteins [and] they did not provide current or historical production capacity data to support their assertion.” Smithfield shared data regarding the entire pork industry but did not give specifics to their plants. The senators stated it made it “impossible to assess the validity of the claims they made in March about threats to the U.S. food system”;
• Not a single company shared information about prices charged to consumers or paid to farmers—In their response letters, the companies did not mention the word “price”;
• No data was given regarding exports—Instead, Tyson stated it “prioritized the U.S. market” but did not deny increased exports, stating “Many of the export loads had been booked and sold weeks before the pandemic affected the U.S.” Cargill provided export numbers of the first three months during the pandemic versus last year, stating, “Total beef exports and total turkey exports were down in comparison to the same period in 2019,” but provided no information about exports relative to domestic sales.
JBS USA discussed “only its ‘market share’ of quarterly exports rather than answering how much of their production left the country during the period of time for which the senators requested data,” according to the senators. Smithfield again only provided numbers for the entire pork industry;
• No figures were released regarding the number of workers who died or were sick with COVID-19—Tysondescribed testing “almost 40,000 of (their) team members for COVID-19” and boasted its “transparency in data” but failed to state how many COVID-19-related cases or deaths it had identified. JBS USA cited the numbers worldwide, while not mentioning their own facilities. Smithfield reported, “The number of (their) ‘employees lost…is measured in the low hundredths of one percent of (their) total workforce’ while failing to provide an actual number of cases and fatalities in its plants.”
All four meatpacking companies assert they are working with federal and local authorities to stop the spread of the virus. However, Smithfield and Tyson stated their plants are not designed for social distancing. In their press release, the senators state, “The companies did not discuss efforts to add additional shifts to compensate for reduced processing rates as a measure to protect workers and allow for enhanced social distancing, despite complaining about risks to processing capacity.”
Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and CEO for Smithfield, responded to the senators’ letter stating, “Your letter reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of our food supply chain, the agricultural sector and the role exports play in a healthy farm economy.” Sullivan also expressed it is “disheartening after what our industry and its brave frontline workers have been through over the past several months.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
