factory meat and workers

Food and Frontline Workers

Radio Times: Food Supply Chain and its Frontline Workers

On June 25, 2020 WHYY’s Radio Times featured an interview with New York Times reporter MICHAEL CORKERY on how COVID-19 has impacted the meat industry. He delved into susceptible conditions in plants with ineffective safety procedures typically staffed by immigrants speaking as many as 80 different dialects.
“It only bolsters the case that plant-based meat has been making that it is a good alternative to the big corporate meat interests”
Radio Times also interviewed DESI BURNETTE from Movement of Immigrant Leaders of Pennsylvania and MEGHAN HURLEY from CATA – The Farmworker Support Committee who are trying to ensure farm workers are protected during the pandemic. Migrant farm workers who supply our produce in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware are ideal candidates for contracting and spreading the virus as they live, work and travel in close quarters. Comprised primarily of both documented and undocumented immigrants, they have been deemed essential workers. New Jersey Department of Health has created a state-wide testing program for all farm workers and found an overall positive testing rate of 11-17%. In response, they have been working rigorously with farms to increase implementing protective safety measures.

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