Smithfield Foods to suspend operations at Monmouth pork plant

US-based meat processing company Smithfield Foods has announced that it will be suspending operations at its pork facility in Monmouth, Illinois.

The decision follows after certain employees at the facility were tested positive for the coronavirus (Covid-19).

As of this week, the facility will be closed until further notice, the company said in a statement.

The facility currently has 1,700 employees and is engaged in the production of bacon, as well as represents nearly 3% of the fresh pork supplies in the US.

Smithfield said that it has deployed safety measures across its operations and ‘remains wholly committed to doing everything in its power to help protect its team members from Covid-19 in the workplace’.

However, the company noted that its labour-intensive, assembly-line style production is a challenge when it comes to implementing and maintaining social distancing.

The company added that all the employees will be paid during the closure.

Smithfield’s team members are being provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks to safeguard its employees at other facilities.

It has installed thermal scanning, plexiglass and other physical barriers on production floors and in break rooms.

Earlier this month, Smithfield Foods closed its facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, indefinitely due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Smithfield Foods’ Sioux Falls facility is said to be one of the largest pork processing facilities in the US and represents 4% to 5% of the country’s pork production.

With a workforce of 3,700 employees, the facility has the capacity to produce 130 million servings of food a week or 18 million servings a day.