Coronavirus has caused far more disaster in the lives of the working class and common people than the number of elites it has killed. While the infected have been struggling with the corrupt healthcare system, the rest of people are not even able to find food.
But that is not all, the worst food crisis in history is well on its way to meet us – and it will leave one billion people in the world starving.
Even if you can afford to buy food at high prices, you still won’t be able to get it.
Milk, fruits, vegetables, grain, and meat – there will be shortage of everything
American dairy farmers have already been spilling nearly 4 million gallons of milk every day, because they are not able to send it over to the factories and restaurants and supermarkets.
Vegetable and fruit farming has taken a serious hit, because there are no workers available for irrigation and harvesting, picking and packing of fresh produce in a short time.
Agriculture is already down since the majority of small farmers in the world can’t get their hands on necessary equipment and fertilizers.
And now, meat is down too.
John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods says that millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the stores:
“As pork, beef and chicken plants are forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain.”
Meat workers are at a high-risk for Coronavirus
American meat companies have warned that the meat industry is “broken” due to COVID-19, and the food supply is going to take a lethal hit from which it will be very difficult to recover.
Slaughterhouses and meat factories are being shut down, not only due to shortage of workers during the lockdown but also because meat factories are a dangerous breeding ground for a virus like COVID-19.
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union of America said that 20 of their meat workers have died due to Coronavirus, and several hundred remain infected.
Farmers have started killing animals as they are now too expensive to feed
Animal farmers are facing another problem, as their animals are not being accepted by the factories.
So they have begun to kill their own animals when it becomes too expensive to keep feeding the animals while none of them is getting sold.
“Millions of animals — chickens, pigs and cattle — will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities. The food supply chain is breaking.”
There is a solution to this, but meat factories don’t want to accept it
Problem with meat factories is that meat needs to be processed by hand, as workers remove the bones and skins and other discarded body parts. Even the packaging and shaping and cutting of meat are done by hand.
The floor of these factories is usually jam-packed with employees and there is a lot of direct and indirect physical contact involved.
If these factories were to run, they’ll have to keep their employees at least 6 feet away from each other. This will slow down the meat production but it’s viable.
Although, companies have chosen to shut down their factories instead of running them for slightly less profit and making sure that people have enough food to eat.
Featured Image Courtesy: LA Times