Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc., the beef and pork subsidiary of Tyson Foods, Inc., Springdale, Arkansas, is winding down production and will temporarily pause operations May 1 to 4 at its Dakota City, Nebraska, beef facility to complete a deep cleaning of the entire plant, according to a company news release.
The company has been working closely with the local health department and is also in the process of screening plant team members for COVID-19 this week, with assistance from the Nebraska National Guard.
The facility, one of the largest beef processing plant in the country, employs a workforce of 4,300 and normally produces enough beef in one day to feed 18 million people, however with increased absenteeism over the last few weeks the company has scaled back production. While the plant is temporarily idled, and in collaboration with UFCW Local 222, team members will continue to be compensated and asked to continue following CDC guidance such as social distancing, persistent hand washing and wearing of facial coverings to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“Team member safety has and continues to be top priority for us and we’re grateful for our team members and their critical role in helping us fulfill, to the best of our ability, our commitment to helping feed people in our community and across the nation,” said Shane Miller, senior vice president and general manager beef enterprise, Tyson Fresh Meats, in the news release. “We’ve been focused on COVID-19 since January when we first formed a company coronavirus task force. Since that time, we’ve implemented numerous measures to protect workers and, at times, have gone beyond CDC guidance.”
Tyson Foods was one of the first food companies to start taking worker temperatures and has installed more than 150 infrared temperature scanners in its facilities. The company started efforts to secure a supply of facial coverings before the CDC recommended them and now requires and provides them for all team members in all facilities.
Last week a team from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, working with local health officials, toured the facility and were able to see preventive measures the company has implemented to enhance the safety of its team members.
“We have a dedicated health and safety team working with local, state and federal health officials and our facility operations team to make timely decisions about operations,” said Miller. “Our decisions on resuming operations during this challenging time will continue to be based on team member safety.”
Tyson Fresh Meats voluntarily idled its pork facilities in Waterloo and Perry, Iowa, and Logansport, Indiana, and beef facility in Pasco, Washington, while team members undergo screening and plants complete deep cleaning of the facilities. The company’s other meat and poultry plants currently continue to operate, but some are running at significantly reduced levels of production due to the planned implementation of additional worker safety precautions.
