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The Exceldor Co-operative poultry processing plant in Blumenort, Man.
News

COVID cases confirmed at Blumenort poultry processor

Plant processing as usual, but contingency plans in place say turkey, chicken producers

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[UPDATED: Oct. 21, 2020] Twenty-seven workers at Blumenort’s Exceldor Co-operative poultry processing plant have tested positive for COVID-19 the company confirmed Oct. 21. The plant remains open and processing as usual. The company says there is no evidence of workplace transmission. *“As far as our operations are concerned, we do not foresee any major impact
Livestock, Markets

JBS parent pleads guilty to U.S. foreign bribery charges

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New York/Rio de Janeiro | Reuters — Brazil’s J+F Investimentos, parent company of the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS, pleaded guilty to U.S. foreign bribery charges and agreed to pay US$128.25 million in criminal fines, prosecutors said on Wednesday. J+F is paying only half of the $256.5 million fines levied due to settlements made with Brazilian
Family members of longtime JBS USA meat packing plant employee Saul Sanchez, from left, wife Carolina Sanchez, and daughter Estela Hernanez, Beatriz Rangel and Patty Rangel hold a photo of him. He died of COVID-19 in Greeley, Colorado April 10.
News

INSIGHT: Workers denied benefits for COVID-19 illnesses, deaths

Companies say employees can’t prove illnesses are work-related; workers say plant design all but guarantees transmission

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Reuters – Saul Sanchez died in April, one of six workers with fatal COVID-19 infections at meatpacker JBS USA’s slaughterhouse in Greeley, Colorado, the site of one of the earliest and deadliest coronavirus outbreaks at a U.S. meatpacking plant. Before getting sick, the 78-year-old Sanchez only left home to work on the fabrication line, where
Weather

World Food Program seeking billions within six months to avert famine

Pandemic may double hunger worldwide, agency says

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London | Reuters — The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will need to raise US$6.8 billion over the next six months to avert famine amid the COVID-19 crisis, the agency said on Tuesday. The WFP, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for its efforts to prevent the use of hunger as
With little recourse, most of the browbeaten and scared workers went back to work. As a result, says ProPublica, more than 43,000 were sickened by COVID-19 and “at least 195” died.
Comment, Op/Ed

Comment: The Big Meat Gang is getting awfully smelly

This U.S. lobby rewrote its country’s COVID response with a bit of pressure on the White House

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In a year of too many dark days, Monday, Sept. 14 was a particularly dark day for two reasons. First, on Sept. 14, ProPublica, the non-profit, investigatory news group, published a 3,100-word exposé on how global meat packers used their clout this spring to get a White House order to keep workers on the job
Markets, News

Argentina planning temporary cut on soy export taxes

Farm industry sources say the move should spur more exports from the Latin American nation

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Argentina plans to temporarily cut soybean and soymeal export taxes by three percentage points to 30 per cent to help stimulate export revenue as the country struggles with recession and dwindling foreign reserves, a local industry source said Oct. 1. The tax cut would last until the end of the year. The export levy would
Hogs, News

China seeks to essentially raise all its own pork

Rapid rebuild of swine herd could dash hopes of exporters like Canada for lasting inroads into market

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Reuters – China is aiming to produce 95 per cent of its pork at home, according to a cabinet document outlining plans for its livestock sector, underscoring a goal to quickly rebuild its huge pig herd after a major disease epidemic. The document comes amid a heightened focus on food security by Beijing, with coronavirus
Livestock, Markets

U.S. indicts six more chicken-industry execs over alleged price fixing

Case alleges executives conspired to inflate prices for broilers

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Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. government has indicted six more chicken-industry executives over alleged price-fixing, broadening antitrust prosecutions in its probe of the US$65 billion poultry sector. In June, the Justice Department indicted Pilgrim’s Pride CEO Jayson Penn and three others in its first charges in the criminal probe involving broiler birds, which account
Bjorn Orvar, co-founder and chief scientific officer at ORF Genetics, poses for a photo outside the company’s greenhouse in southwest Iceland.
News

Will COVID-19 be a game changer in humanity’s relationship with meat?

Double-digit growth in plant-based foods expected this year, but lab-grown meat is the next frontier

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Thomson Reuters Foundation – In a vast, illuminated greenhouse set among Iceland’s otherworldly lava fields, the genetically modified shoots of an ancient cereal crop may hold the key to the food of the future. Using abundant geothermal waters for heating and volcanic ash instead of soil, biotech company ORF Genetics is growing barley here to

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