Portions of Tyson’s processing plant in Kansas, damaged by fire, are back up and running. The facility likely won’t be “fully functional” until as late as January.
Colin Woodall with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says ‘ground beef grinding’ is working again, but there’s no official opening date for the rest of operations. He says the USDA has been very helpful with its investigation and they’re in the process of collecting data.
Meanwhile, Woodall says the department of transportation isn’t cooperating after the NCBA requested ‘the hours of services rules’ be adjusted to help move cattle to other processing facilities.
...you know USDA was very responsive to our requests, moving around inspectors, DOT has completely failed our industry, simple request, and instead of recognizing emergency situation, instead, DOT has blown us off and wrapped this up in bureaucratic red tape...
Woodall says what they’re hearing most is “producers are losing money and it’s making people nervous.”
