Where’s the Beef?

America’s meat processing-plants are hard-hit by COVID-19. Speculation runs that the immigrant laborers are less aware of health precautions given in English and that their living situations and the “elbow-to-elbow” nature of work at these industrial butchers and packers make them especially vulnerable. Tyson’s CEO warned that closure of plants mean that “millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain.” Millions of animals that are raised for slaughter may simply be plowed under and buried alive.

For the first time since the 1970s oil crisis, Americans on a mass scale may be exposed to rationing, shortages, and long lines for a resource they consider essential to their lives.