When the pandemic started we were warned that prices for food would go up because of the precautions and fear the food supply chain would be effected….and I’ll be damned my meat went sky high……then the war in Ukraine and the prices of gas soared which in turn affected meat prices….they went through the roof.
I admit it….I am a meat eater….I truly enjoy a steak or a good burger or a stew and a pot roast….recently I got sticker shock when I went to the store for some ground chuck for burgers on the grill….but it is not just beef….pork, bacon, chicken all are quickly becoming prohibitive for some…..when will this madness stop?
Then my stack got smoked (thanx to Doug for that term) when I read this piece…..
Workers at meat-processing plants were forced to clock in to work during the early days of the pandemic, thanks to an executive order out of the Trump administration deeming them essential workers amid what was said to be a beef and pork shortage. Except now it seems that last part wasn’t exactly true, according to a new report out from the House panel studying how the US responded to COVID, per the Washington Post. What the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis concluded instead in its 61-page release was that the meat industry’s biggest players, with Tyson Foods in the driver’s seat, crafted a draft filled with “baseless” claims on meat shortages, then sent it along to the White House, which in turn issued an executive order that forced meat-processing factories nationwide to remain open for business.
“Meatpacking companies knew the risk posed by the coronavirus to their workers and knew it wasn’t a risk that the country needed them to take,” the panel’s report says, adding that, despite this knowledge, the companies pushed “aggressively” to keep workers on the clock in “unsafe conditions,” and to shield themselves from legal action if anyone got sick or died. Among the misleading info promoted by Tyson, Smithfield Foods, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef was that shuttering the plants “would lead to “an imminent meat shortage,” according to the report, which was culled from a review of 150,000-plus documents, as well as interviews with union reps, officials from OSHA and the Department of Agriculture, and health authorities. John H. Tyson, chairman of Tyson’s board, even took out a full-page ad in major newspapers in April 2020, proclaiming, “The food supply chain is breaking.”
Before Trump signed that executive order around the same time, top dogs from Tyson and Smithfield were said to have been in contact with members of the White House, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and VP Mike Pence’s own chief of staff, Marc Short, per the report. In January, a Reuters analysis found the vast majority—nearly 90%—of processing plants owned by the nation’s five biggest meat companies were slammed with COVID cases in 2020 and the beginning of 2021. Research from last year out of UC Davis found nearly 335,000 COVID cases in the US can be tied to the meatpacking plants, with an $11 billion price tag. A Tyson rep tells the Post the company has worked with officials within both the Trump and Biden administrations to wrangle with the pandemic, while a Smithfield executive notes that his company has sunk more than $900 million into worker safety initiatives.
My question is what will the government do?
I mean they cannot seem to te3ar themselves away from giving taxpayer money away for war….so9 what will the do for the people of this country….
My idea is prices controls and price roll backs….then a fine, a substantial fine not some slap on the wrist.
Any thoughts of your own?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 
We know that meat prices are through the roof but I, for one, am never going to sacrifice the pleasure of good meat because of the price …I don’t care if ground beef gets to be a hundred dollars a pound, I am going to buy the best I can find. At my age there are some sacrifices that I am unwilling to make.
Not the point. The industry is faking a crisis….that should be come down hard upon…..chuq
Do you recall how that sometime a few years back we had the same kind of meat crisis and the stores were importing ostrich meat and beef was out of sight? We finally started importing beef from Argentina or somewhere and the American People stasrted boycotting American meat producers and started using meat alternatives (such as peanut butter) and the crooks doing the price gouging got the message and things returned to normal. Do you remember that? We need a national meat boycott right now just like back in those days.
I recall it down here they tried to introduce emu and the meat….tasted like crap-. chuq
Over herr, Pork and Chicken is still easily affordable. Even a rump steak is a good price, as all three are produced locally. However, Lamb has doubled in price, and has become a ‘luxury meat’. Considering most of it comes from Wales, that is a nonsense!
Best wishes, Pete.
The whole ‘crisis’ is absurd…the government should step in but they are fed by these toads so they will do little to nothing. chuq
Pete I don’t believe UK has the deficit the US does. Not enough food in the once most wealthy nation. I am ashamed and ashamed of the pathetic people running our nation. Biden & Harris are useful idiots. Thank God for November elections so hopefully they won’t destroy the US before a new administration and POTUS & VP can take over and begin fixing this mess. I was not fond of Trumps arrogance and mouth or all the nasty tweets but at least our nation was on top of its game. Miley Cyrus must of had Biden & Harris in mind when she sung that song! A horrid wrecking ball the two idiots.
Layla, not to worry no matter who wins those fake things like elections the prices will stay the same…..follow the money chuq
I hope not.
Hope will not help…learning issues and voting could go a long way of setting things right. chuq
Hope in God is always right and He gives us the hope that He will guide us right in this pathetically sick world.
We have brains…use them! chuq
Yes and God gave us those brains to use! 😀👍
It is up to the person to use it properly…..most do not chuq
Agree with you on that 100%!
I went to a cafe whose menu stated, “Chicken Wings…Market Price.” Chicken wings?
I remember when those were a penny apiece at happy hour….now they are a dollar or more….and most of it is bone….so we are paying for something we cannot eat….great marketing I would say. chuq
thanx John