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China suspends some U.S. poultry imports over coronavirus concerns

China has reportedly suspended meat imports from a U.S. poultry processor and a German pork processor over coronavirus concerns.  Jim Sumner with the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council tells Brownfield first, China stopped taking pork last week from Toennies in Germany. “We got word on Saturday that they were concerned, asking similar questions about a specific Tyson facility in Arkansas.”

The U.S. suspension is for poultry processed at the Springdale, Arkansas plant. 

Sumner says he sees no reason for China to reject products from plants based on increased positive employee tests for coronavirus. “This should not be a food safety issue. The virus cannot be transmitted in meat or poultry, and especially with a product that is frozen as this would be.”

Sumner says it appears both Tyson and Toennies are being hurt by their transparency. “These were two companies that I guess were very transparent trying to put worker’s safety interests ahead of everything, which is what we all expect our companies to be doing, and then became penalized as a result.”

Tyson says they conducted large-scale employee testing on several employees at their northwest Arkansas facilities, with 481 out of more than 37-hundred testing positive, or 13% of the workforce.  Of those employees, 95% were asymptomatic but still tested positive for the virus. Of the 481 positive tests, 223 were at Springdale, and 148 were at the Rogers, Arkansas plant.