
Tyson Foods takes out full-page ad: “The Supply Chain is Breaking” - vanusa
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/494772-tyson-foods-takes-out-full-page-ad-the-food-supply-chain-is-breaking
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throwaway5752
By all accounts, they made employees go back to work with inadequate
safeguards. This is a some real chutzpah. Read
[https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/tyson-waterloo-iowa-
plant-...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/us/tyson-waterloo-iowa-plant-
employees-coronavirus/index.html) for background (or
[https://www.propublica.org/article/what-happens-if-
workers-c...](https://www.propublica.org/article/what-happens-if-workers-
cutting-up-the-nations-meat-get-sick) a little further back)

~~~
legitster
> Tyson also implemented a system several weeks ago to check the temperatures
> of all employees entering the Waterloo facility, using infrared technology
> to scan their faces as they arrive to work.

> Tyson said it installed plastic or plexiglass dividers along the cafeteria
> tables where employees eat lunch. Two employees said the cafeteria dividers
> probably helped to an extent, but they stressed that the cafeteria is always
> very crowded.

>The production line worker said the company provided bandanas at one point,
but she said her colleagues who utilized them complained they were cheaply
made and started fraying right away.

It sounds like they were trying to do _something_ , but it's just really hard
to keep ahead of this thing. I think food work is just fundamentally less safe
right now.

~~~
milkytron
They were willing to do some things so long as they didn't slow production.
But when their work force starts decreasing, they start losing options.

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carapace
I don't think this will lead to starvation. Meat will get more expensive this
summer, but we shouldn't be eating as much meat as we do anyway. (To say
nothing of the cruelty of our methods.)

If this worries you plant a Victory Garden now:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden)

And buy some chickens.

~~~
klmadfejno
If meat gets more expensive, people buy more vegetables instead. If people buy
more vegetables, vegetables get more expensive. Plenty of people in America
already go hungry. In a crisis with increased unemployement and decreased food
production, more people will go hungry. It's not a famine (in the US), but
it's a serious problem. How many studies have suggested that just giving kids
breakfast would be the number one thing to improve school performance?

~~~
dawnerd
Recent news reports were of farmers throwing away produce because demand
dropped from all the restaurants closing down. I think we’ll be ok.

~~~
klmadfejno
I hadn't heard about that. Googling it suggests most of this is due to supply
chain problems preventing farmers who normally sell to restaurants being
unable to sell to grocery stores; and labor not being available to pick food

[https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=farmers+throwing+away+produ...](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=farmers+throwing+away+produce&atb=v198-1&ia=news&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mercurynews.com%2F2020%2F04%2F20%2Fcalifornia-
farmers-are-forced-to-let-crops-rot-and-throw-away-milk-while-food-bank-
demand-soars%2F)

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CaliforniaKarl
The actual ad: [https://context-
cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/do...](https://context-
cdn.washingtonpost.com/notes/prod/default/documents/85d81e35-f0f2-48bb-
bd58-c0a133b0d8c0/note/d104a57a-0aae-4420-aa28-8bb41c99593a.#page=1)

~~~
gruez
>Tyson Foods is also paying approximately $60 million in "thank you" bonuses
to 116,000 frontline workers and Tyson truckers

That's around $500 per person. Is this monthly or yearly? If it's yearly it's
a negligible amount of money.

~~~
nostromo
$500 is not a trivial amount of money for millions of Americans.

~~~
compiler-guy
Especially not to those who are working in meat processing plants. Is it
enough? Probably not, but if you are working minimum wage with no benefits,
$500 makes a real difference.

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AnimalMuppet
If they want to tell Congress or someone that the supply chain is breaking,
that's fine. But why a full-page ad? "To inform the public"? Or to panic the
public into pressuring the government? If so, pressure them to do what?

What's the motive for a full-page ad? Is it just "Don't blame us, we're doing
all we can?" I don't know, but this seems unnecessarily alarmist for a PR
exercise.

~~~
tentboy
It also pretty much ensures a wave of panic buying.

~~~
gehwartzen
Which I suppose is what you would want to happen if you are forced to
slaughter millions of animals and are left with a parishable inventory.

~~~
sokoloff
I thought they were slaughtering animals without benefit because they lacked
the labor to slaughter them for retail sale. Iff that's the case, panic buying
helps them not at all and maybe makes the PR side of things even worse.

~~~
jerf
Panic buying also fails to help them if they basically can't raise prices to
take advantage of it. It's not like panic buying is going to line their
pockets, and certainly nowhere near enough to compensate for the damages they
seem to be suffering.

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triceratops
I don't understand the point of this ad. I thought food production was
considered essential work. How is Tyson Foods affected by the stay-at-home
orders?

~~~
glaugh
My understanding is that they closed plants of their own volition because so
many people were getting sick.

What the government can do is (1) find and prioritize personal protective
equipment for food processing and (2) do a better job on enabling mass
testing, again prioritizing the food supply chain.

Lobbying the government is more powerful when backed up with the popular
pressure that will come from this ad and associated media coverage.

It’s a relatively generous interpretation, and I’m not commenting on the
wisdom of it or what it seeks to induce, but it seems plausible to me.

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gnusty_gnurc
Thomas Massie had been sounding the alarm for a while now about agriculture.

[https://twitter.com/repthomasmassie/status/12547777465274204...](https://twitter.com/repthomasmassie/status/1254777746527420417)

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HarryHirsch
Where are consequences for management? Food supply is a matter of national
security.

Where is discussion about workplace safety and sick leave? The coronaplague
keeps spreading because employees cannot afford to take time off.

~~~
Mobius01
Our national security is already compromised at the Commander-In-Chief level,
this will probably go ignored until it is out of control much like the
pandemic itself.

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jungletime
Since I discovered oat milk, I rarely buy cream for my coffee. It steams and
tastes good enough. This may push people to eat more plant based food. Which
is not bad really. Things I wish there was a vegan alternative for eggs, and
cheese, with somewhat reasonable price/ease of use.

~~~
throwaway894345
If we shutter all meat production today, then we won't be able to scale
production of plant-based alternatives before the meat in the supply chain
runs out. This means the costs go up and the poor starve. Everything is
interconnected; we shouldn't be so cavalier about condemning entire
industries. Although I would suggest we shouldn't be so callous about
sacrificing an entire industry (i.e., the families who are supported by work
in that industry) even if that industry were magically insulated from the rest
of the economy.

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mgarfias
time to order some cornish cross chicks

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adamnemecek
"Depopulated" is quite the euphemism.

~~~
zeveb
I am a meat eater and huntsman, and I agree. Just say 'euthanised' or 'thrown
away' or 'killed and wasted.' Treat readers like adults, not use euphemisms.

For that matter, it wouldn't surprise me were there a traditional term to use.
'Cull,' maybe?

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burger_moon
link without auto play video

[https://outline.com/qF7tdw](https://outline.com/qF7tdw)

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derision
Tyson chicken is garbage anyway. My meat suppliers have expressed that things
are tough right now, but far from "breaking". I wouldn't be too upset if Tyson
foods died.

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generalpass
Whatever damage a virus may rage, it will not be greater than maintaining the
restrictions and preventing people from going to work.

Let businesses set their policies, employees choose their desired level of
safety. Let us choose our destinies instead of confining us to quarters.

