What would the impact of a meat shortage on Pittsburgh be?

PITTSBURGH — All industries have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while some have been able to adjust to a new normal, others are struggling to continue operating.

One of the industries that has faced shutdowns is meat processing.

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Across the county plants are shut down due to sick employees, and that could soon mean an impact to the global food supply chain.

Nearly 6,500 sickened employees at meat packing plants owned by Tyson, JBS and Smithfield have forced the closure of over a dozen plants.

Pork production is already down 25% and Tyson Foods is going as far as to say, “The food supply chain is breaking.”

Today, President Donald Trump took executive action ordering meat processing plants to stay open because of concerns over the nation’s food supply and protecting major corporations from liability if workers get sick. A senior White House official said without taking this measure the availability of meat in grocery stores could have been reduced up to 80%.

Locally, it's hard to predict what we could experience and when. The message to consumers is that being unable to find your favorite cut is just temporary and the supply chain will result.

From large grocery store chains to the iconic Wholey's market in the Strip District, businesses are trying to keep up with the supply chain.

Giant Eagle sent Channel 11 a statement to reassure customers.

“We work with several suppliers within each product category in order to provide our guests with a wide variety of options. We believe that the diversity within our supply chain will help us to offer consistent product availability in our meat department.”

Workers at local meat plant test positive for COVID-19; virus impacting meat supply industry Workers at local meat plant test positive for COVID-19; virus impacting meat supply industry

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