The Market for meat: Meat market owners struggle with processing shortages and high demand

Tom Inboden, owner of Inboden's Gourmet Meats & Specialty Foods in DeKalb, was expecting a shipment of pork Thursday morning. When the truck arrived, Inboden received a little less than half of his order. He was told that product is on back order and more could be expected with Saturday's delivery.

Inboden's reduced order is only one example of how the meat market industry has been facing shortages due to processing plants being closed nationwide due to the coronavirus.

Inboden said that his store is stocked and that he has "a lot of meat, but the situation is changing day to day, hour by hour."

"The phone is constantly ringing, with people asking 'Do you have it' and me responding 'Hold on, I'll let you know,'" Inboden said. "Everyone in the meat industry is suffering, and it will have a sizable economic impact. However, I'm confident we'll work our way through all of this. It'll just take a little bit of time."

Meat Industry Closures

According to the Center for Disease Control, multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 among meat and poultry processing facility workers have occurred in the United States.

The CDC stated that facility workers’ work environments, including processing lines and other areas in busy plants where they have close contact with others, may contribute substantially to potential exposures.

On Thursday, April 23, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents more than 250,000 meatpacking and food processing workers, announced that at least 13 plants have closed in the past two months. The closures have resulted in a 25% reduction in pork slaughter capacity and a 10% reduction in beef slaughter capacity.

Due to the coronavirus, Hormel Foods Corp. closed its meat plant in Rochelle for 14 days and two Jennie-O Turkey plants in Minnesota.

Smithfield Foods Inc. closed a hog slaughterhouse in South Dakota, a bacon and sausage facility in Wisconsin and a spiral and smoked ham plant in Missouri. Smithfield Foods has also suspended operations in Monmouth and St. Charles, Illinois.

Tyson Foods Inc. and Tyson Fresh Meats, the company’s beef and pork unit, has closed its pork plant in Iowa, its pork processing facility in Indiana, its beef plant in Washington. Tyson has also paused operations at its poultry plant in Kentucky and its beef facility in Nebraska.

JBS USA has closed its beef production facilities in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and its pork plant in Minnesota.

Panic-buying and Stocking Up

Janelle Ream, owner of Ream's Meat Market in Elburn, said that in addition to the threat of product shortages, keeping up with demand has been difficult because customers have been panic-buying.

"People are buying large quantities at a time, which is not usual for this time of the year," Ream said. "We're not seeing too much of a shortage yet, but we have seem a large change in demand. I think people are also stocking up because they're staying home and not going out [shopping] as often."

Tom Ulrich, the owner of Sycamore Country Store and Catering, said that customers' panic-buying has lead to placing limits on how much meat can be bought at once.

"Some people are buying 10, 20 or 30 pounds of ground chuck at a time," he said. "It's just like the issue of [panic-buying] toilet paper. Our freezers used to be fully stocked, and now we can't keep up with orders. The product is out there, but farmers are having a problem getting it to slaughter and to the market."

Ulrich said that his store is short on a few items, but he continues to cut 150 and 250 pork chops a day and makes 22 different types of sausages.

"Right now, our best sellers are burgers, steaks and seasoned butterfly pork chops," he said. "It's not only panic-buying, restaurants aren't open for dine-in, so more people are cooking and grilling at home."

Tom Eickman, president of Eickman's Processing Co. in Seward, described the current shortages and customer demand for product as "insanity."

"It's overwhelming because we're not used to this sort of volume or consumer mindset," he said. "People are overbuying because they're scared and worried about supplies down the road. With consumer demand, there's an uncertainty with food supply. Back in olden days, every town had a meat locker and a processor, now we rely on big processing plants and the grocery store. Now, it's a different world."

Possible Shortages in the Future

At Eickman's Processing Co. in Seward, there is usually a lull in slaughter in the spring before county fairs end and hunting season begins in the fall.

Eickman's slaughterhouse has averaged 40 head of cattle and 60 head of hogs each week for about a month. The slaughterhouse is booked through the end of December. Booking for January 2021 will begin June 1. Customer orders for half a beef have been pushed back five or six months.

"Hog farmers have nowhere to go to get their animals processed, most slaughterhouses and processing are booked through the end of the year," Eickman said. "We could maybe add a few more a week, but we're maxing out on our facility's capabilities."

With meat processing plants closed, some farmers have chosen to euthanize their adult hogs without processing them after slaughter to make room for newly-born piglets.

"With processing plants closed due to the coronavirus, livestock is not getting to the market and unfortunately, farmers will be depopulating millions of hogs," Inboden said. "If producers continue to depopulate and euthanize going forward, we're going to have a reduction in the normal amount of product that would be going to the market in the future, therefore causing a temporary shortage."

Eickman said that his goal as owner of a meat processing facility is to "supply the food chain and keep his workers and customers healthy and safe," even though he doesn't know "when we will get back to something similar to normal."

"It's our job as meat processors to step up to the plate and provide for our community," Eickman said. "We have to calm the fear and keep going, keep operating. Farmers need us, and we need farmers. Consumers need us, and we need consumers. It's our job to make sure everyone has food in their cupboard and on their plate. We can't let people worry about whether they'll have food."