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Smithfield Foods settlement with feds can’t be used in COVID lawsuits
Smithfield Foods agreed this week to pay the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration $13,494 to settle a citation for failing to protect its meatpacking employees in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from exposure to the coronavirus last year, but the company didn’t admit it did anything wrong. As such, the settlement can’t be “used or […]
Smithfield withdraws request for CAFO permits environmentalists criticized as too lax
The global meat producer operating some of Missouri’s largest industrial hog operations has withdrawn requests to convert 10 of its permits to what environmental groups say would be more lenient ones. Smithfield Foods Inc., which has a history of environmental violations in Missouri, operates some of the largest concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, in […]
COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield plant in Missouri likely larger than originally known
This story was originally published on The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. The COVID-19 outbreak at Smithfield Foods’ northern Missouri plant — the focus of a worker safety lawsuit that garnered national attention last year — resulted in two worker deaths and was worse than previously thought, according to newly obtained federal documents. Early on […]
Small meat processors say USDA measures don’t address consolidated industry’s root problems
Over the past two decades, Greg Gunthorp carved out a niche operating a small meat processing plant in northern Indiana. He sold several kinds of meat to chic Chicago and Indianapolis restaurants and to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, he said. He also sold direct to consumers. But selling in grocery stores was not an option, […]
Congress takes aim at state animal welfare laws
Earlier this year, Oregon Democrats pushed through state legislation that allows local governments to require setbacks between neighbors and factory farming operations. The law prohibits farms from drawing unlimited amounts of free groundwater and requires farmers to apply for a permit before applying manure to their fields. It’s the kind of state regulation at risk […]
Foreign ownership of farmland probed at U.S. Senate hearing
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators said during a Wednesday hearing that foreign ownership of farmland is a national security threat that should be further examined. The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry discussed foreign ownership of the nation’s agricultural lands, with testimony from experts and Senate colleagues who have been taking the lead on […]
History of the hog industry shows how to save the cattle industry
As a 5th generation Missouri farmer, I know what the stakes are. As independent family farmers, we are responsible for our animals and the land 365 days a year, through every type of weather, year in and year out. We carry the majority of the risk, and then we watch corporate meatpackers take the majority […]
18 years and counting: EPA still has no method for measuring CAFO air pollution
This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest. When gases from large livestock facilities overwhelm communities, the health impacts can be severe. Children at schools near concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, are more likely to experience asthma. Exposure to ammonia and hydrogen sulfide — both emitted in large quantities by CAFOs — can lead to […]
Missouri Supreme Court upholds state law prohibiting local CAFO regulations
A state law prohibiting counties from imposing regulations on industrial hog facilities does not violate the Missouri Constitution, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The unanimous ruling upholds a Cole County Circuit Court judge’s decision to toss the case before trial. It says county ordinances attempting to set rules for industrial farms are invalid. At […]
Supreme Court denies Tyson Foods’ request to hear COVID death cases in federal court
This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest. The U.S. Supreme Court last week denied a petition by Tyson Foods’ lawyers requesting that wrongful death suits brought by the families of four Tyson employees who died of COVID-19 be heard in federal court. Nearly three years after the employees of Tyson Foods’ Waterloo, Iowa, facilities […]