Smithfield to close Sioux Falls plant for three days

April 9, 2020

Smithfield will close its Sioux Falls plant for about three days following more than 80 positive COVID-19 tests among employees.

The Sioux Falls operation employs 3,700 people, Smithfield said.

It will suspend operations in a large section of the plant April 11 and completely shutter it April 12 and 13.

In a statement, the company said the closure is out of “an abundance of caution.”

“During this time, essential personnel will repeat the rigorous deep cleaning and sanitization that have been ongoing at the facility and install additional physical barriers to further enhance social distancing,” it said. “Employees will be paid for any previously scheduled hours during the temporary closure.”

The Sioux Falls plant supplies 130 million servings of food per week, or 18 million servings per day, to the country, CEO Ken Sullivan said.

“As an industry and as a nation, it is imperative that we continue to operate our feed mills, farms, plants and distribution centers. Together with our peers and supply chain partners, which include millions of American crop and livestock farmers, we feed America. Not operating is not an option. People need to eat.”

The federal government has identified agriculture and food production as critical to the response to COVID-19, he added.

“They have emphasized over and over again our special responsibility to maintain operations and normal work schedules. They have been explicit: shelter-in-place orders do not apply to us. The reason is obvious. Food is essential for survival and civil society. So we must produce food for our communities and our countries. It’s our obligation and duty to our fellow citizens,” Sullivan said.

Mayor Paul TenHaken said he had what he called a heated call with Sullivan and the Sioux Falls plant manager this morning.

“I got to be honest, I went into the call pretty fired up, wanted to get a better idea of how they were handling this outbreak. I feel a lot better after the call. Some of the key points of that call is that Smithfield is losing money operating this plant right now. They have been told by the federal government to stay open and continue to run.”

The plant is considered critical infrastructure, he said.

“There is a whole continuity of our food supply that’s really important and we’re not talking about right now, but all you have to do is go to a grocery store or go to a meat counter and see the limited supply in front of you to understand there’s a reason our meatpacking facilities are critical infrastructure.”

The spread is not necessarily happening at the plant itself, TenHaken said.

“It’s happening when people leave the plant and go home.”

More mitigation strategy and communication needs to happen in certain populations, he added. That includes the Hispanic and Nepali communities.

“They’re being hit the hardest,” he said. “So we’re working on targeted communication strategies with those populations.”

There also are 119 Smithfield employees older than 65, TenHaken said.

Smithfield has instituted a series of stringent and detailed processes and protocols that follow the strict guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to effectively manage COVID-19 cases in its operations, the company said.

These include mandatory 14-day COVID-19 related quarantines with pay as an uncompromising effort to protect its dedicated employees, Smithfield said. The company has also relaxed attendance policies to eliminate any punitive effect for missing work because of COVID-19 diagnosis or quarantine.

In addition, Smithfield said it is taking many measures to minimize its team members’ risks of contracting COVID-19. These include adding extra hand sanitizing stations, boosting personal protective equipment, continuing to stress the importance of personal hygiene, enhancing cleaning and disinfection, expanding employee health benefits, implementing thermal scanning, increasing social distancing, installing plexiglass and other physical barriers and restricting all nonessential visitors.

“All these actions complement the extensive safety measures in place at all our locations and are on top of the extremely hygienic and sanitary environments maintained at all times in our industry for food safety and quality purposes. We’re also ensuring employees know how to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 and making certain that they know how COVID-19 spreads,” Sullivan said.

“We continue to actively monitor CDC guidance, as well as that of state and local health authorities, and are immediately taking all necessary actions to protect our employees.”

It was first reported March 26 that Smithfield had an employee test positive for COVID-19.

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Smithfield to close Sioux Falls plant for three days

Smithfield will close its Sioux Falls plant for about three days following more than 80 positive COVID-19 tests among employees.

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