Americans could start to see shortages of pork, chicken and beef on grocery shelves as soon as May as major packing plants swept by the coronavirus remain shuttered and the nation’s massive stockpiles of frozen meat begin to dwindle
There is enough — for now. The Agriculture Department’s monthly tally of meat in warehouse freezers showed total pounds of beef — about 502 million — were up 2 percent. Poultry in storage went up 4 percent, to 1.3 billion pounds. The amount of chicken in storage dipped slightly to about 921 million pounds.
Meatpacking plants have become coronavirus hot spots because workers operate in close conditions and many have not been equipped with adequate protective gear. After cases began to mount, some companies have implemented safety precautions, such as spacing workers along slaughter lines and installing plexiglass barriers.
Unions representing safety inspectors and plant workers have urged the Agriculture Department to step in with specific guidance on how to deal with coronavirus outbreaks in processing plants. But the agency has instead deferred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and left it to companies to determine their own safety precautions.
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