Smithfield Foods announced Sunday it’s closing its Sioux Falls plant until further notice a day after Governor Kristi Noem and Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken asked the facility be closed for at least two weeks. 293 of its workers have tested positive thus far for the COVID-19 virus.
In a news release Smithfield CEO Kenneth Sullivan warned the closure of the Sioux Falls plant and others nationwide are, in his words, “pushing our country close to the edge in terms of our meat supply.”
The Smithfield plant will resume operations once it gets further direction from local, state and federal officials.
The company will continue to compensate its 3,700 employees for the next two weeks.