Meat plants shutting down

[amaysngrace]

3 hours ago, Art_Critic said:

The covid-19 is a respiratory virus, meaning it has to enter the body from the lungs.

Entering the body from food would subject the virus to stomach acid and it will not live.

While this isn't a scientific article there are tons out there..

Can you catch COVID-19 from food?

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-food-risk.html
 

quote: 

“Still, the extent to which people can become infected by touching their mouths, or eating contaminated food, is unclear.

"It's not that it's not possible" for people to become infected with COVID-19 through food, Chapman said."There's always this possibility. But I want to make the best risk management decision based on the best science and evidence, and we just don't have any evidence in that area" right now, Chapman said”

“There’s always that possibility.”

It just seems that this virus has targeted very specific demographics.  

I’m not so sure that’s a coincidence.

[amaysngrace]

3 hours ago, Art_Critic said:

The covid-19 is a respiratory virus, meaning it has to enter the body from the lungs.

Entering the body from food would subject the virus to stomach acid and it will not live.

While this isn't a scientific article there are tons out there..

Can you catch COVID-19 from food?

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-food-risk.html
 

 

 

3 hours ago, Art_Critic said:

Can you catch COVID-19 from food?

https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-food-risk.html
 

“Still, the extent to which people can become infected by touching their mouths, or eating contaminated food, is unclear.

"It's not that it's not possible" for people to become infected with COVID-19 through food, Chapman said."There's always this possibility. But I want to make the best risk management decision based on the best science and evidence, and we just don't have any evidence in that area" right now, Chapman said”

“There’s always this possibility”

So they don’t know because it’s “unclear.”

Yea I don’t know why this whole thing makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, maybe it’s because it seems this virus targets very specific demographics and I’m still not totally convinced that’s just a coincidence.

But thank you for your efforts to offer some reassurance. 

[serial muse]

I'm not sure what you mean by targets very specific demographics ... more men than women do appear to get sick on average, and researchers are considering some possibilities why that might be ranging from how the virus attaches to receptors to simple lifestyle differences (although plenty of women get sick and die too).

It is also true that more black people are disproportionately getting sick in many cities, and have a higher rates of death as well. But at least in my city (DC) this is clearly related to income disparity and whether people are able to work from home or not. On average, there are far more black people here working essential jobs, having to take public transportation, and basically not just not having the option of social distancing as effectively. It's an economic disparity and a social justice issue, no question, but not intrinsic to the virus itself.

[Ellener]

2 hours ago, amaysngrace said:

this virus has targeted very specific demographics.  

Anyone can contract a new virus, just some people in the population are more susceptible and some viruses are more risky for certain populations.

The 1968 pandemic also killed mainly the over 65.

 

[serial muse]

Here's a really clear breakdown of why the virus disproportionately affects black and brown communities. For the reasons I mentioned above, and also of course health care disparities. Also, for example, the very different optics of black and brown people wearing masks vs white people wearing masks.

From Jamil Smith, the author of the Rolling Stone piece:

Quote

I was born in a major city, living in a heavily black neighborhood, with asthma — one of the “underlying conditions” Fauci listed. I didn’t inherit it from either of my parents. Our surroundings often shape our futures: Much like urban pollution and asthma, the higher complication rate from diabetes correlates with food insecurity. Added to that medical danger is the possibility of discrimination when we actually heed government guidelines about covering our faces in public. Two black men in Wood River, Illinois claimed in a video that a police officer in a Walmart followed them and told them that they weren’t permitted in the store while wearing their surgical masks. Another man told the Washington Post that he wears “pink, lime green, Carolina blue” bandannas to lessen the chance of being profiled as a gang member or criminal.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/coronavirus-black-death-racism-donald-trump-mike-pence-981707/

 

[Kitty Tantrum]

12 hours ago, Art_Critic said:

The covid-19 is a respiratory virus, meaning it has to enter the body from the lungs.

Entering the body from food would subject the virus to stomach acid and it will not live.

This makes sense - EXCEPT, aren't they still trying to make us believe that this whole thing started with someone EATING AN INFECTED ANIMAL? Bat? Pangolan? Whatever?

How do you reconcile those two pieces of information?

[basil67]

I'd eat it.   A long slow bake or in my slow cooker - nothing's going to survive that.   

[Els]

2 hours ago, Kitty Tantrum said:

This makes sense - EXCEPT, aren't they still trying to make us believe that this whole thing started with someone EATING AN INFECTED ANIMAL? Bat? Pangolan? Whatever?

How do you reconcile those two pieces of information?

It's not from "eating" the animal, it was from a live meat market that sold those animals. Most of you have probably never been to such markets (and you should not go). The animals are ALIVE in cages, and they slaughter them in front of you. So a pangolin with COVID would indeed be releasing particles of the virus into the air and onto surfaces, similar to how a human with COVID would.

[amaysngrace]

10 hours ago, serial muse said:

It's an economic disparity and a social justice issue, no question, but not intrinsic to the virus itself.

Right and people with less incomes will be the ones receiving these items.  It just seems like a recipe for disaster to me, or at the very least has the potential to be.

And I’m still not sure if this plant offers any foods that are only served cold like lunch meats and cheese, foods that won’t be rinsed before someone puts it their mouth. 

Also, if that many people people were infected at this one plant, what safety measures could they be practicing there? 

Something just seems so wrong to me with them supplying 40 million meals.  I appreciate yours and others’ efforts to offer reassurance but I just can’t shake this sinister feeling about it all.  

 

[Art_Critic]

4 hours ago, Kitty Tantrum said:

This makes sense - EXCEPT, aren't they still trying to make us believe that this whole thing started with someone EATING AN INFECTED ANIMAL? Bat? Pangolan? Whatever?

How do you reconcile those two pieces of information?

Today they seem to have nailed down patient 0 as a lab tech in the research facility who went into the market after accidentally getting the virus themselves.

 

[Ellener]

5 hours ago, Kitty Tantrum said:

This makes sense - EXCEPT, aren't they still trying to make us believe that this whole thing started with someone EATING AN INFECTED ANIMAL? Bat? Pangolan? Whatever?

How do you reconcile those two pieces of information?

It's called cross-species transfer.

From humans handling pangolins ( or whatever )

Which should not happen in nature.

 

[Ellener]

2 hours ago, amaysngrace said:

I just can’t shake this sinister feeling about it all.  

Write to them with your concerns then.

And eat something else   

[Fletch Lives]

5 hours ago, Kitty Tantrum said:

This makes sense - EXCEPT, aren't they still trying to make us believe that this whole thing started with someone EATING AN INFECTED ANIMAL? Bat? Pangolan? Whatever?

How do you reconcile those two pieces of information?

Just don't pull an Ozzy Osbourne and bite the head off a bat and you'll be okay!

[amaysngrace]

2 hours ago, Art_Critic said:

Today they seem to have nailed down patient 0 as a lab tech in the research facility who went into the market after accidentally getting the virus themselves.

 

So this started in a research lab?  Yea, nothing sinister about that whatsoever. 

 

 

[Kitty Tantrum]

Lab-originated was my inkling from day one.

I mean, who DOESN'T have a bio-weapons research facility these days? The scariest thing in my book is that more people didn't already know that. Lyme Disease is another one that very likely has a lab somewhere at the root of its origin story.

Thanks for clarification on handling vs. eating; the most popular meme I've seen is "OMG all because someone ate a bat."

[amaysngrace]

What’s it matter Kitty?  The only reason they were handling them is because someone was willing to eat them.

 

[simpycurious]

This cannot be good news about the meat plants shutting down nor the "potential" news about FALL sports. UGH

[Ellener]

I don't understand the compulsion to search for something sinister- surely the reality of a pandemic is unpleasnt enough? It really is bad form for media sources if they are reporting information ahead of the facts. Rumours have been rife through this situation and people seem to lap them up...why?

New Scientist says this 'Did Covid Originate in a Lab?:

No, this virus isn’t a bioweapon.

New diseases have emerged throughout human history, and we have seen two major coronavirus outbreaks in the last two decades: SARS and MERS. So we shouldn’t be surprised by the arrival of the covid-19 virus.

However, rumours on social media suggest that the outbreak was human-made. Some say the virus leaked from a Chinese lab studying coronaviruses. Others suggest the virus was engineered to spread among humans.

Even the most secure laboratories do sometimes have accidents, and a human-engineered pandemic has been identified as a possible risk to our civilisation, but there is no good evidence that either has happened.

Many similar viruses are found in wild bats, and it seems likely that is the origin of this one, probably via an intermediate host. Similarly, we know that both SARS and MERS came from bats, so there is no reason to invoke a laboratory accident.

Researchers led by Shan-Lu Liu at the Ohio State University say there is “no credible evidence” of genetic engineering (Emerging Microbes & Infections, doi.org/dpvw). The virus’s genome has been sequenced, and if it had been altered, we would expect to see signs of inserted gene sequences. But we now know the points that differ from bat viruses are scattered in a fairly random way, just as they would be if the new virus had evolved naturally.

Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/term/coronavirus-come-lab/#ixzz6JnzdLiAv

[Woggle]

We actually have a Smithfield teriyaki pork loin in the freezer. Should we throw it out or is it safe to eat?

[carhill]

Smithfield is a well-respected brand throughout the industry and private labels for other channels as well as commercial and institutional markets. The main thing that changed was the money thing, were the profits go and how the beans are counted. Prep and cook as per usual and enjoy!

[Ellener]

1 hour ago, Woggle said:

We actually have a Smithfield teriyaki pork loin in the freezer. Should we throw it out or is it safe to eat?

It's probably from weeks ago in their plant?

Cooking will kill viruses.

I tend to be auto-suggestive though, the slightest doubt about anything and I can't eat it. If you want to take my plate at dinner just say 'does this seem okay to you?' and I'm done...but then I have a mental illness! 

[alphamale]

On 4/13/2020 at 3:37 PM, amaysngrace said:

Some meat plant in South Dakota is closing until further notice because they have nearly 300 employees infected and get this, they’re donating the meat to food banks!  

Does anyone else see that as being a bad idea or is it just me?

i think it's fine

[Kitty Tantrum]

7 hours ago, amaysngrace said:

What’s it matter Kitty?  The only reason they were handling them is because someone was willing to eat them.

 

It matters because if the story according to whatever "experts" was that the virus was initially contracted by EATING an infected animal... that precludes any confidence in the claim that "you can't get it from eating it."

But it seems that is not the case.

[major_merrick]

My husband's company has supplied equipment and done work for meat plants locally.  I saw this one coming a mile away, and I'm surprised more plants haven't shut down.  With people buying freezers and stocking up on meat, supplies are going to be stretched thin and I wouldn't be surprised to see continued shortages through the year, especially of more refined products.

Things in a meat plant aren't quite as bad as in Upton Sinclair's time, but it is still a pretty unpleasant environment.  In many areas, employees work shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and have to climb around on catwalks to reach various pieces of equipment.  Personal space is rare, let alone this "social distancing" idea.  Meat plants are also high-traffic zones, with truck drivers and supplies coming in from many places, shipments to many places, and tons of internal traffic that crosses all areas of the plant.  What shows up in one area of the plant is difficult to isolate when you have tons of people coming and going.  Plants in the city near me employ hundreds if not thousands of people. 

Meat plant employees here are often sicker than the average person, in spite of lots of sanitizer being used on every surface during the cleanup shift.  There's just so little space between people, and the environment is frequently wet which leads to increased transmission of colds and flu and respiratory illness.  There are also tons of immigrants from nations that do not have first-world sanitation.  Training those folks to wash their hands on their way in to work is a challenge, let alone anything else.  (No that isn't ethnocentrism, it is a locally observed FACT.)  Meat plants also have a high turnover rate, due to transient workers and the unpleasant nature of the work.  Locally, that end up  being a 50% turnover rate or higher annually.  In a plant that employs hundreds or thousands of people, that's a ton of new faces, which makes it impossible for any medical staff that serve the plant to successfully evaluate employees.  They largely have to rely on self-reporting of sickness.  Not a good setup at all for containing any kind of illness. 

Bottom line, if anybody is GOING to get coronavirus, meat plant line workers are a group that is at very high risk.  While there are USDA regulations that apply to food production, I suspect the closure of meat plants is a practical measure related to the workers themselves more than the product.  Once one worker in the plant has it, spread to many other workers is almost guaranteed due to proximity.  If you have 300 workers out sick with the risk of more cases, a plant becomes difficult to run. 

Fortunately, cooking meat will kill human viruses as well as bacteria and other things naturally present in raw meat.  Always, always, always cook your meat!!!

[carhill]

6 minutes ago, major_merrick said:

Always, always, always cook your meat!!!

Yep, even cured meats like bacon. I remember as a kid eating bacon raw, salted and smoked out of the smokehouse, no biggie. Wouldn't do that these days. Smithfield has some good videos of their VA plant, allowing of course for company propaganda, which show the machinery and  hand-work lines. Historically, and it's a very old company, very reputable. Did things change after the Chicoms bought it? I doubt it, at least at the level of food safety.

To the extent the commercial/institutional lines can re-jigger for a better mix of retail, I doubt any individual shutdowns will have significant effect at the retail level. Problems in their own supply chain, sure. That's a nightmare all over the place right now. We're seeing it big time in the dairy industry because milk is very perishable and a lot of it goes to products for commercial/institutional/export. They're dumping it. Can't simply stop milking cows because of a supply chain disruption. If they're marginal, beef them out but even that is a problem now in it's own chain. They end up as tallow or pet food.