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Smithfield Foods closes pork facility after reporting more than 200 COVID-19 cases

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April 13, 2020

Smithfield Foods, Inc. has closed its Sioux Falls, South Dakota facility, one of the largest pork processing facilities in the U.S., until further notice, according to a press release.

The closure was announced after state officials reported more than 200 cases of Covid-19 for plant employees, according to a Bloomberg News report.

The plant is one of the largest pork processing facilities in the U.S., representing 4-5% of U.S. pork production. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day, and employs 3,700 people. More than 550 independent family farmers supply the plant.

Smithfield will resume operations in Sioux Falls once further direction is received from local, state and federal officials. The company will continue to compensate its employees for the next two weeks and hopes to keep them from joining the ranks of the tens of millions of unemployed Americans across the country.

For an update on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the convenience services industry, click here.