IOWA, USA — Tyson Foods announced that it is suspending operations indefinitely at a large Iowa pork processing plant linked to a growing coronavirus outbreak.
The company warned that its closing of the Waterloo, Iowa, plant would be a blow to hog farmers and potentially disrupt the nation’s pork supply. Tyson had kept the plant open in recent days over the objections of the mayor and other local officials.
The plant employs nearly 3,000 workers and can process about 19,500 hogs per day, about 4% of the U.S. pork processing capacity.
The announcement comes as employers have struggled to contain the virus in large meatpacking plants. Several other packing plants have temporarily closed.
One Iowa pork plant at the center of a major coronavirus outbreak is reopening as another began testing all employees to learn the scope of their infections.
Tyson Foods resumed limited operations at its pork processing plant in Columbus Junction, where more than 200 workers have become infected and at least two have died. The plant, which has about 1,400 employees, had been shut down for two weeks after reporting the outbreak.
In northern Iowa, Wright County officials reported that 16 employees at a pork processing facility run by Prestage Foods of Iowa have tested positive.
Mass testing at the plant began Monday.
