House lawmakers released a report Thursday that accuses Tyson and other meatpacking companies of lobbying the USDA against health restrictions and seeking to avoid legal liability while COVID-19 spread among workers. Follow this link to read the full report.

The report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis claims the lobbying efforts "led to policies, guidance, and an executive order that, individually and all together, forced meatpacking workers to continue working despite health risks and allowed companies to avoid taking precautions to protect workers from the coronavirus, ultimately contributing to thousands of worker infections and hundreds of worker deaths."

Lobbying

The report claims that in March and April 2020, Tyson and other companies lobbied the USDA and White House to discourage workers from staying home or quitting. CEOs directly spoke with the Secretary of Agriculture and other officials to ensure that workers were told that if they left their jobs out of worries about the COVID-19 pandemic, they would not receive benefits.

A spokesperson with Tyson declined a request from sister station 40/29 News for an interview. He sent a statement from the company, saying Tyson collaborates with many different federal, state and local officials on pandemic issues. This includes both the Trump and Biden administrations.

The statement says Tyson became one of the first fully-vaccinated workforces in the country last year. and that the health and safety of its workers are the company's top priority.

Protein Supply

According to the report, Tyson and other companies compiled information on their plant operations to convince the USDA that oversight by local health departments and positive COVID-19 test results put the nation's protein supply in danger.

Tyson and Smithfield publicly stated that reduced operations due to plant closings or absent workers would cause a shortage of meat.

The House report states that despite a brief slowdown in production in spring 2020, there was enough pork in cold storage to supply grocery stores for more than a year.

Executive Order

At the same time, the companies lobbied for legal protection against possible lawsuits over workplace conditions during the pandemic, the report states.

Tyson wrote a draft executive order on April 13, 2020, that it believed would protect it and other meat companies from liability. The industry then used backchannels to lobby the White House to have President Donald Trump sign the order. Those lobbying efforts included phone calls between Tyson executives, including CEO Neil White, and administration officials.

Trump signed a final version of the executive order on April 28, 2020. Follow this link to read the order.

Industry Response

"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 report states. "They nonetheless lobbied aggressively — successfully enlisting USDA as a close collaborator in their efforts — to keep workers on the job in unsafe conditions, to ensure state and local health authorities were powerless to mandate otherwise and to be protected against legal liability from the harms that would result."

A statement released by the lobbying group North American Meat Institute claims the subcommittee's report cherry picks data to create a false narrative about the industry.

"The report ignores the rigorous and comprehensive measures companies enacted to protect employees and support their critical infrastructure workers," according to the statement.

The report states that 59,000 workers at Tyson, JBS, Smithfield, Cargill, and National Beef caught COVID-19 in 2020 and 269 died.

Tyson reported a net income of about $2 billion in 2020 and $3 billion in 2021. In an email cited in the report, a meatpacking lobbyist asked a Tyson lobbyist if it was wise to publicly support a tax break for meatpacking corporations, given the high profit margins.

Watch the video above for the full story.

Tyson Foods Inc. is recalling nearly 8.5 million pounds of ready-to-eat chicken after multiple cases of Listeria monocytogenes were linked to Tyson products. One death from listeriosis was linked to Tyson products, a release from the Food Safety and Inspection Service reported.

Tyson is recalling a total of 8,492,832 pounds of chicken that was shipped nationwide to retailers and institutions, including hospitals, nursing facilities, restaurants, schools and Department of Defense locations, a release said. The contaminated products were reportedly sold between December 26, 2020 and April 13, 2021, according to the Journal-News.

Initial reports show that on June 9, the FSIS was notified of two cases of listeriosis. After working with the Centers for Disease Control and state public health officials, FSIS found evidence linking Listeria monocytogenes to precooked chicken from Tyson. Epidemiologic investigation found an additional three listeriosis cases, including one death, between April 6 and June 5 of this year. Two samples of Listeria monocytogenes were found in establishments and one sample was found at Tyson Foods Inc. FSIS is working to learn if there have been any more cases of listeriosis tied to Tyson Foods products.

Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract.

In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn. Listeriosis can also cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems.

Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics. Anyone in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell the health care provider about eating the contaminated food.

Tyson released a list of products that are possibly contaminated. The products all bear the establishment number “EST. P-7089” on the packaging. FSIS is concerned that some products may be in consumer and institutional freezers. If you see these products, do not consume or serve them. Instead, throw them away or return them to the place of purchase.

• Tyson pulled chicken breast - fully cooked, boneless skinless with rib meat, seasoned, smoke flavor added - 20 oz bag
• Tyson fully cooked, boneless, sinless - pulled chicken breasts with rib meat - 12 lb bag
• Jet’s Pizza - fully cooked, fajita seasoned, boneless skinless - diced chicken breasts with rib meat - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked diced grilled chicken breast with rib meat - 10 lbs bag
• Tyson fully cooked, seasoned, grilled - boneless skinless chicken strips CN for fajitas - 39.93 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, all natural, low sodium boneless, skinless - pulled white chicken - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, low sodium, boneless, skinless - pulled chicken natural proportion - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, low sodium, all natural - half-inch died chicken natural proportion - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, low sodium - half inch diced white chicken - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked oven roasted diced chicken breast - boneless skinless with rib meat, seasoned - 22 oz bag
• Tyson fully cooked, grilled, boneless, skinless - chicken breast strips with rib meat, for fajitas - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked grilled boneless skinless chicken breast strips with rib meat - 8 lb bag
• Casey’s General Store - fully cooked, grilled chicken breast strips with rub meat - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, wood fired seasoned, diced, grilled, boneless skinless chicken breasts with rib meat, smoke flavor added - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked fajita chicken breast strips - boneless skinless with rib meat smoke flavor and caramel color added - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked chicken breast strips - boneless, skinless with rib meat, seasoned smoke flavor - 22 oz bag
• Fully cooked grilled chicken breast strips - boneless skinless with rib meat - 7.5 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked oven roasted diced chicken breast - boneless skinless with rib meat, seasoned - 12 oz bag
• Marco’s Pizza fully cooked, sliced chicken breast strips with rib meat, smoke flavor added - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully coked, wood fire seasoned, grilled chicken breast strips with rib meat, smoke flavor added - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, boneless skinless pulled chicken breast with rib meat - 12 lb bag
• Litter Caesars fully cooked chicken wing selections - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked char-broiled boneless chicken meat for fajitas - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, boneless, skinless dark chicken fajita strips smoke flavor added - 30 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, roasted, grill marked, all natural boneless, skinless chicken leg strips - 30 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked, low sodium, boneless, skinless pulled dark and white chicken - 10 lb bag
• Tyson fully cooked boneless, skinless pulled chicken breast with rib meat - 12 lb bag

Tyson Foods Inc. is recalling nearly 8.5 million pounds of ready-to-eat chicken products because they may be contaminated with Listeria, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Saturday."The frozen, fully cooked chicken products were produced between Dec. 26, 2020 and April 13, 2021," the agency said in a statement."The products subject to recall bear establishment number 'EST. P-7089' on the product bag or inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped nationwide to retailers and institutions, including hospitals, nursing facilities, restaurants, schools and Department of Defense locations," the statement said.The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said it received a notification June 9 of two people who became ill with listeriosis, and worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state public health agencies to determine there was evidence linking the illnesses to Tyson pre-cooked chicken products."Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms," the FSIS statement said.Consumers and businesses or institutions that may have these products should throw them away or return them to the store where they were purchased, the agency said.