IOWA CITY, Iowa – Tyson Foods suspended operations Wednesday at an Iowa plant that is critical to the nation's pork supply but had been blamed for fueling a massive coronavirus outbreak in the community.
The company said the indefinite closure of the Waterloo, Iowa, plant would deny a vital market to hog farmers and further disrupt the nation's meat supply.
Tyson had kept the facility, its largest pork plant, open in recent days over the objections of local officials. The plant can process 19,500 hogs per day, accounting for nearly 4% of U.S.
pork processing capacity, according to the National Pork Board. More than 180 infections have been linked to the plant and officials expect that number to dramatically rise.