Amid a shortage of meat, shut down U.S. meatpacking plants will be back to full production in a week to 10 days, according to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.
Coronavirus outbreaks at meat processing plants have led to shut downs that have limited the supply of meat and caused a rise in prices, despite a decrease in the price of cattle.
President Donald Trump has used the Defense Production Act to declare the plants essential infrastructure, earning praise from Iowa GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday.
Secretary Perdue said in April his department would investigate diverging prices for cattle and beef during the outbreak. He expanded a probe into the market that USDA began last year after beef prices paid by wholesalers soared and cattle prices paid to farmers tanked when a fire shut a Tyson Foods Inc slaughterhouse.
"I've asked the Justice Department to look into it," Trump said of a call from 11 state attorneys general to investigate potential price fixing in the meat-processing industry amid the global coronavirus pandemic. "I've asked them to take a very serious look into it, because it shouldn't be happening that way and we want to protect our farmers.
"Are they dealing with each other? What's going on?"
Also, unions have been calling for companies to provide more protective gear for slaughterhouse workers and ensure daily coronavirus testing.
"I'm glad outsiders are finally seeing the issues that the cattle industry has been dealing with for a long time," Lee Reichmuth, a Nebraska cattle producer and board member for the United States Cattlemen’s Association, told Reuters.
Asked about price-fixing allegations, Cargill Inc. spokesman Daniel Sullivan said "the assertions lack merit, and we are confident in our efforts to maintain market integrity and conduct ethical business."
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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