Politicians who summoned meat industry executives to grill them about price increases got an earful of complaints about challenges the industry faces – shortage of workers, congestion at ports and reduced line speeds for hog slaughter.
“Just six weeks ago, the Biden Administration tried to blame the meat and poultry industry for the rising cost of food,” Julie Anna Potts, president and chief executive officer for the North American Meat Institute told the politicians in Washington, D.C.
“Today, the Congress will hear from other food manufacturers, shippers, input suppliers, growers and retailers enduring the same labor shortages up and down the food supply chain that are driving the record cost of food at the holidays,” she said.
Meat packers were already straining at their limits before the pandemic hit, she testified, and that exacerbated existing labor challenges with many meat packers facing 20 per cent absentee rates.
And then consumer demand increased, she said, while the packing sector’s ability to process livestock was experiencing operational constraints.
The meat institute wants the government to allow it to bring in more foreign workers and to allow packers to increase line speeds.
