Tyson Foods CEO Noel White said the company’s level of production “literally changes on an hourly and daily basis” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A presentation by White and Tyson Foods Chief Financial Officer Stewart Glendinning, kicked off the BMO Capital Markets Global Farm to Market Conference on May 13.
With hundreds of meat and poultry plant workers in the United States testing positive for COVID-19, companies have suspended operations at various facilities while reducing production at others. As a result, operations and production levels for companies such as Tyson Foods have been substantially reduced.
When asked by moderator Ken Zaslow about when levels might be expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels, White said that was a tough thing to predict because “that literally changes on an hourly and daily basis.”
“As an example, a week ago at this time, we had six beef and pork facilities that were closed for varying amounts of time. All those operations have restarted – most of them came back online mid-week of last week,” said White. It’s a process. We still have some facilities that are not operating at full capacity, and there is a range of facilities that might be anywhere from 50% to 100%.”
On the day prior to the BMO conference, Tyson Foods issued a press release stating that it’s pork plant in Madison, Nebraska, had resumed limited production following a temporary closure for deep cleaning and sanitation. The day before that, Tyson issued another press release to inform the public that operations had resumed on a reduced level at its poultry plant in Portland, Maine.
Between the Maine and Nebraska facilities, more than 260 team members tested positive for COVID-19. Those employees continue to receive paid leave and may return to work when they have met the criteria established by both Tyson Foods and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The company also recently reported that it took its poultry plant in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, offline on May 9-11, also to do deep cleaning and sanitation procedures.
While speaking during the conference, White stressed that the workers’ health and well-being is far more important than maintaining meat and poultry production levels.
“Safety is by far our foremost concern, and if we do believe if any of our team members are at risk, we will not hesitate to take the plant dark to ensure their safety,” said White.
Other companies to give presentations at the BMO Capital Markets Global Farm to Market Conference included Sanderson Farms and Archer Daniels Midland.
View our continuing coverage of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
