Smithfield Foods Closes US Pork Plant Due to CCP Virus

Some of the products of Smithfield Foods are displayed in front at a news conference on WH Group's IPO in Hong Kong on April 14, 2014. Bobby Yip/Reuters

CHICAGO—Smithfield Foods Inc, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Thursday it is temporarily closing a plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because of the CCP virus, the latest disruption to the U.S. food supply chain from the outbreak.

The company will suspend operations in a large section of the pork plant on April 11 and completely shutter it on April 12 and April 13, after employees tested positive for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, according to a statement.

Hams and other memorabilia are displayed at a restaurant in Smithfield, Va. on May 29, 2013. Amanda Lucier/The Virginian-Pilot via AP

The plant has a total of 3,700 workers, Smithfield said. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day, in the United States, according to the company, which is owned by China’s WH Group Ltd.

Tyson Foods Inc said on Monday it closed a pork plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, after more than 24 cases of COVID-19 involving employees at the facility. U.S. beef plants run by JBS USA and National Beef Packing Company have also shut.

By Tom Polansek

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report