From apple packing houses in Washington state to farm workers in Florida and a California county known as 'the world's salad bowl,' outbreaks of the novel coronavirus are emerging at U.S. fruit and vegetable farms and packing plants.
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO - From apple packing houses in Washington state to farm workers in Florida and a California county known as “the world’s salad bowl,” outbreaks of the novel coronavirus are emerging at U.S. fruit and vegetable farms and packing plants.
While social distancing can be more easily implemented for workers harvesting fruits and vegetables in fields and working outside may reduce some risks for virus spread, plants that package foods such as apples and carrots resemble the elbow-to-elbow conditions that contributed to outbreaks at U.S. meat packing plants.
Workers at six fruit packing sites in Yakima County went on strike in May due to concerns they were not being provided adequate protection from COVID-19, Franks said. Grimmway is the largest carrot producer in the world and dominates the market of popular packaged “baby carrots,” for snacking. Carrot sales at U.S. stores rose 22% from a year ago in the 13 weeks to May 30, according to Nielsen data, as Americans bought nearly all their food from supermarkets with restaurants closed during coronavirus lockdowns.On May 19 the U.S. Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration said the government could use the Defense Production Act to keep fruit and vegetable lines moving. The act would give companies some liability protection if workers fall sick.
“You can get ahead of this, which is what didn’t happen in the meatpacking situation,” she said. “The best way to protect our supply chain is to keep workers safe.”
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