Latest Meat Processing Headlines

All the headlines from our Meat Processing Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Minnesota Meat Processing Company Accused of Employing Minors

Mar 17 2023 // A meat processing company in Minnesota employed children as young as 13 to work in hazardous conditions, such as operating meat grinders, while they worked overnight shifts and longer hours than allowed by law, the...

$1 Million Settlement in Class Action over Immigration Raid at Tenn. Meat Plant

Mar 2 2023 // A federal judge has approved a settlement of more than $1 million in a class action lawsuit that challenged a federal immigration raid at an eastern Tennessee meatpacking plant where about 100 people were arrested.The...

Latino Workers at Tennessee Meat Plant Reach $1.2M Settlement in Immigration Raid

Feb 28 2023 // Latino workers at a Tennessee meat processing plant have reached a $1.2 million settlement in a lawsuit over a 2018 immigration raid in which they were “targeted by federal agents” because of their ethnicity,...

Midwest Meat Plant Cleaning Service Fined $1.5M for Hiring Minors

Feb 22 2023 // MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – One of the country’s largest cleaning services for food processing companies employed more than 100 children in dangerous jobs at 13 meatpacking plants across the country, the U.S. Department of...

Lawsuit Accuses Largest U.S. Meat Producers of Wage Fixing

Nov 18 2022 // Three meat plant workers have filed a federal lawsuit accusing 11 of the United States’ largest beef and pork producers of conspiring to depress wages and benefits.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Denver on...

Washington Seafood Processing Company to Pay $92,000 Settlement

Jul 14 2022 // A seafood processing company west of Aberdeen, Washington, will pay more than $92,000 in a settlement agreement over water quality violations, Washington state ecology officials said.Pacific Seafood – Westport,...

Minnesota Poultry Producers Wary of Bird Flu’s Return

Feb 10 2022 // Minnesota’s poultry producers are monitoring cases of bird flu found in wild birds in other parts of the United States and Canada.A state veterinarian says it’s an early warning for producers in Minnesota ahead...

Report: Louisiana Seafood Industry Saw $580M in Losses From 2020-21 Hurricanes

Jan 19 2022 // Louisiana’s fisheries and seafood businesses experienced approximately $580 million in total losses resulting from four hurricane between August 2020 to August 2021, according to a new report by the Louisiana Sea...

Bird Flu Found in Wild Duck Could Endanger Poultry Industry

Jan 18 2022 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday confirmed the first case of a highly pathogenic type of avian influenza in a wild bird since 2016 in South Carolina.The virus, Eurasian H5 avian influenza, was found in a wild...

Oregon Meat Distributor Recalls Ground Beef Over E. coli Concerns

Jan 13 2022 // A meat distributor based in Clackamas, Oregon, has recalled more than 28,300 pounds (12,800 kilograms) of ground beef because of concerns the meat may be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.The raw ground beef products from...

Unions Say Meat Plants Relaxed COVID-19 Safety Measures After Outbreaks

Dec 26 2021 // Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, last year assigned a team of dedicated employees to enforce social distancing and sanitize surfaces at a South Dakota slaughterhouse where COVID-19 infected nearly...

Oklahoma Pork Plant Faces $27,000 Penalty Over Unsafe Work Conditions

Dec 3 2021 // A Guymon, Oklahoma processing and packing facility – operated by one of the nation’s largest pork processors – failed to prevent workers from being exposed to repetitive motion injuries and did not record...

Des Moines, Iowa Officials to Investigate Pungent Odor from Pork Plants

Nov 23 2021 // Parts of downtown Des Moines have been so transformed in the past decade by new apartments, trendy shops and microbreweries, it’s sometimes hard to reconcile the present with the not-so-distant past.But one strong...

Pork Plants Allowed to Operate Faster in Trial Program

Nov 12 2021 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday that nine pork plants can apply to operate faster processing-line speeds under a one-year trial, after a federal judge in March struck down a Trump-era rule that removed...

Report Finds Meat Plant Workers’ COVID Cases Much Higher Than Previous Estimates

Oct 28 2021 // Workers at the leading U.S. meatpacking plants experienced cases and death from COVID-19 that were up to three times previous estimates, according to a report by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis seen...

Grocer Sues Oregon Beef Producer for $2.7M Over Outbreak

Oct 25 2021 // Lawyers representing New Seasons Market have filed a $2.7 million lawsuit against an Oregon beef producer accusing the company of negligence for delivering beef tainted with E. coli in 2019, court records show.Several...

Chicago Meat Plant to Pay $1.1M to Settle Race Discrimination, Retaliation Suit

Oct 13 2021 // Federal authorities say a Chicago meat processing company that was charged with unlawfully harassing black employees, rejecting them for hire, and firing a black employee for complaining, will pay more than $1 million to...

Judge Says Evidence Destroyed in Georgia Poultry Plant Deaths

Oct 11 2021 // The Georgia judge overseeing lawsuits brought after workers were killed at a chicken processing plant is weighing sanctions against a freezer manufacturer after crucial evidence was thrown away.“It makes your client...

Agriculture Department Readying Waivers to Address Pork Plants’ Processing Speed

Oct 8 2021 // The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working on a proposal for a waiver system for hog plants forced by a federal court to slow processing lines, Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Thursday.Waivers to allow plants to speed up...

Louisiana’s Seafood Industry Struggling After Ida

Sep 24 2021 // Louisiana’s oyster farmers, crabbers, shrimpers and anglers are nothing if not adaptable, producing millions of pounds of seafood annually, often in water that was dry land a generation ago. They’ve fought off...