Understanding small- and very-small-scale meat processors in Missouri to strengthen the local supply chain

Promoting local food systems is crucial to provid-ing a more viable economy, eco-friendly produc-tion, and equal opportunities for producers, con -sumers, and communities. Meat processors are critical to local meat producers and the meat supply chain. However, various barriers have restricted small-scale meat processors and challenged the lo -cal meat supply chain. Although local food systems have gained enormous scholarly attention, little at-tention has been devoted to specifically exploring the meat processing sector. This study investigated the characteristics and challenges of small-scale (<750 employees) and very-small-scale (<200 em-ployees) meat processors in Missouri. Twenty-six meat processors participated in an online survey through Qualtrics, a mail survey, or a structured phone interview between May 2021 and March 2022. We identified the characteristics and con-straints related to their businesses. The analysis re-vealed that 76% of meat processors perceived that their business was in better or much better condi-tion than before the COVID-19 pandemic, reflect-ing their adaptability to the disrupted meat supply chain. However, small-scale meat processing facili-ties were limited by the labor shortage, complicated regulations and high regulatory compliance costs, a lack of consistent supply, and limited access to tools and equipment. More integrated work is needed to aid smaller processors in positively im-pacting the local community and environment through locally sourced meat production. This study contains helpful implications for state-level policymaking, extension programs, and future re-search directions.

Meta-Analysis of COVID-19 Spread in Meat Processing Plants and Recommended Practical Actions

Recently, the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has increased among workers of meat processing plants (MPPs) around the world. This study reviewed the possible routes of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission and useful actions against it in slaughterhouses. The results revealed that the main factors for the spread of the virus included low indoor temperature, crowded area, wrong standing along production lines, contamination of high-touch surfaces, difficult education of workers with diverse native languages, low financial income, large MPPs with over 10 million Ib of packed meat per month, higher speed of production lines with 175 birds/minute, temporary contract of the workers, and weak approach of some meat processing companies against COVID-19 infection such as National Beef. COVID-19 transmission rate was 24 times higher among the workers of MPPs than among the population of the US. The practical actions against the spread of the virus were mainly marker using for remembering the previous location, mandatory mask use, especially FFP2/3 masks, and decentralization of large MPPs. By using the results of this study, slaughterhouse managers would be able to significantly control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and future bio-threats to workers of MPPs and even to society. © 2022 The Author(s);.

Our ‘Pacific family'. Heroes, guests, workers or a precariat?

Australia launched a Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP) in 2012, shortly after a similar scheme in New Zealand, to bring seasonal workers from Pacific Island Countries (PICS) to work in agriculture. The scheme was seen as a potential ‘Triple Win' with sending and receiving countries, and workers' households, benefiting. Workers' remittances contributed to welfare, especially housing and education, and small business establishment, but there were social costs associated with repeated absences. In 2018, Australia introduced the Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS) to extend guestwork opportunities into other areas of non-seasonal labour shortage such as aged care, tourism and meat processing. The shortage of local labour during COVID-19 demonstrated that Pacific guestworkers were invaluable to Australia, and in 2022 the schemes were revamped and expanded further as the PALM (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility) Scheme. Concern over a Chinese threat in the region gave further support for the expansion. PICs expressed concerns about exploitative practices, while higher rates of participation increased the potential for an incipient brain drain from the PICs, with wages roughly four times those at home, as migrants now left non-agricultural jobs. The expanded scheme continues to favour Australian employers leaving questions over, equity, uneven development and the future of the PICs.

Die Re-Regulierung der Schlachthofarbeit in der Corona-Krise

Die prekären Arbeits- und Beschäftigungsbedingungen in der Fleischindustrie sind seit geraumer Zeit Gegenstand von Regulierungsversuchen. Eine dreifache Krise – der europäischen Integration, der Arbeitsbeziehungen und der Naturverhältnisse – zog in der Vergangenheit jedoch keine substanzielle Regulierung nach sich. Unser Artikel zeigt, dass die pandemiebedingte Ausweitung der Konsequenzen auf Betroffene außerhalb der Fleischindustrie (etwa Anrainer:innen von Schlachthöfen) die Relevanz und den Handlungsdruck erheblich erhöht hat. Auch die symbolische Relevanz des Themas stieg im Zuge der Corona-Krise, weil die Regulierungen im Zusammenhang mit der Pandemiebekämpfung der Bundesregierung insgesamt gedeutet wurden. Unsere These lautet, dass sich die bemerkenswerte Geschwindigkeit der Re-Regulierung nur auf Basis der vorgängigen, dreifachen Krisendynamik der Fleischproduktion erklären lässt. Die Analyse des Policy-Wandels hat ergeben, dass die Debatte um Arbeit und Beschäftigung in der Fleischindustrie bereits seit 2007 geführt wird. Zögerliche Regulierungsversuche sahen zwar bereits 2014 einen branchenweiten Mindestlohn vor, der jedoch großflächig unterwandert wurde. Ob die neuen Regulierungen der Bundesregierung dies nun verhindern können, indem sie Leiharbeit und Werkverträge schrittweise verboten, bleibt abzuwarten.Alternate :The precarious working and employment conditions in the meat industry have been the subject of regulatory attempts in the past. A triple crisis – of European integration, of labor relations and of social nature – was not followed by regulation in the past. Our article shows that the extension of the consequences to persons affected outside the meat industry (as neighbors of slaughterhouses) due to the pandemic has significantly increased the relevance and pressure for action. The symbolic relevance of the issue also increased in the wake of the Corona crisis because regulations were interpreted in the context of the federal governmentʼs overall pandemic response. Analysis of policy change reveals that the debate about meat industry regulation has been ongoing since 2007. While tentative attempts at regulation included an industry-wide minimum wage as early as 2014, it was widely undermined. It remains tobe seen whether the federal governmentʼs new regulations can now prevent this by gradually banning temporary work and service contract work (Werkvertrag).

Family Matters: Navigating the Intentional Precarity of Racialized Migrant and Refugee Workers in Canadian Meatpacking

Au Canada, l'industrie de conditionnement de la viande dépend fortement d'une main-d'œuvre composée d'immigrés et d'immigrants racialisés, dont beaucoup sont d'anciens réfugiés. Au printemps 2020, l'industrie a connu des épidémies dévastatrices de COVID-19 qui ont entraîné des centaines d'infections, de nombreux décès et la fermeture d'usines dans le sud de l'Alberta. Sur la base des résultats d'un partenariat de recherche communauté-université, les intersections entre le statut d'immigration et les conditions de travail auxquelles sont confrontés les travailleurs immigrés-réfugiés sont analysées dans l'industrie de conditionnement de la viande en Alberta. À partir de 225 réponses à un sondage et de 17 entrevues qualitatives avec des travailleurs immigrants, immigrés et réfugiés, le concept de " précarité intentionnelle " est avancé pour explorer les stratégies utilisées par l'industrie pour maintenir une main-d'œuvre docile. Cet article apporte trois contributions. Premièrement, nous présentons des comptes-rendus originaux des épidémies de COVID-19 de 2020 dans l'industrie canadienne de conditionnement de la viande du point de vue des travailleurs immigrés et migrants ;deuxièmement, nous démontrons que les travailleurs immigrés et migrants ne sont pas seulement des travailleurs autonomes, mais plutôt des personnes intégrées dans des réseaux de soins et de parenté à la fois locaux et transnationaux ;et troisièmement, nous dévoilons la relation tendue entre les travailleurs immigrés et migrants, leurs familles et les environnements de travail sales, difficiles, dangereux (3D) et, pendant le COVID-19, mortels. Nous postulons que les familles agissent comme un tampon contre le travail en 3D en offrant protection et assistance en temps de crise, comme les épidémies de COVID-19 dans les abattoirs. Pourtant, l'obligation de subvenir aux besoins de la famille est souvent la raison principale pour laquelle les travailleurs acceptent un emploi dans l'industrie de la viande.Alternate :In Canada, the meatpacking industry relies heavily on a workforce comprised of racialized migrants and immigrants, many of whom are former refugees. In the spring of 2020, the industry saw devastating COVID-19 outbreaks leading to hundreds of infections, numerous fatalities and plant closures in Southern Alberta. Based on findings from a community-university research partnership, the intersections of immigration status and the conditions of work faced by im/migrant-refugee workers are analyzed in the Alberta meatpacking industry. Drawing on 225 survey responses and 17 qualitative interviews with im/migrant and refugee workers, the concept of 'intentional precarity' is advanced to explore the strategies that the industry uses to maintain a docile workforce. This paper makes three contributions. First, we present original accounts of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreaks in Canadian meatpacking from the perspective of im/migrant workers;second, we demonstrate that im/migrant workers are not just autonomous labourers, but rather people embedded in caring and kin networks that are both local and transnational;and third, we unpack the fraught relationship between im/migrant workers, their families and the dirty, difficult, dangerous (3D) - and, during COVID-19, deadly - work environments. We argue that families act as a buffer against 3D work by offering protection and assistance in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 outbreaks in slaughterhouses. Yet, obligations to support family are also often the primary reason for workers to take jobs in meatpacking in the first place.

An exploratory qualitative enquiry into workers' experiences of leptospirosis and post-leptospirosis in Aotearoa New Zealand

Leptospirosis is a globally important, zoonotic bacterial disease with an estimated 1.03 million cases and 58,900 deaths annually, with tropical regions incurring the highest burdens.1 Humans are infected from contact with animal urine or from contaminated water;contact with rodents and floodwater are recognised risk factors globally2 Patients with acute leptospirosis episodes (ALEs) have diverse symptoms, ranging from undifferentiated fever to fatal disease.3 The clinical presentation is nonspecific, so diagnosis relies on attending clinicians being aware that leptospirosis could be a differential diagnosis followed by laboratory confirmation. The mechanisms underlying PLS may include persistent infection with Leptospira* post-infective fatigue syndrome9 or autoimmune conditions.10 Current reports on long COVID bring the importance of documenting the long-term sequelae of infectious diseases in greater focus.11 Choutka et al., in their 2022 review, coined the phrase post-acute infection syndromes (PAISs) to encompass viral, bacterial and protozoal infections where there is an unexplained failure to recover from the acute infection.12 These authors recognise the overlap of the clinical features of PAISs with myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome, suggesting a common etiopathogenesis. In Aotearoa, PLS is currently poorly, or not at all, recognised by ACC, thus documentation of patient experience with PLS will raise awareness of the condition and may also identify opportunities to improve systems and quality of care.21 The aim of this pilot study was to perform an exploratory qualitative study with participants who were suffering from PLS to document their experiences. [...]it has not been reviewed by one of the University's Human Ethics Committees.

Understanding small- and very-small-scale meat processors in Missouri to strengthen the local supply chain

Promoting local food systems is crucial to providing a more viable economy, eco-friendly production, and equal opportunities for producers, consumers, and communities. Meat processors are critical to local meat producers and the meat supply chain. However, various barriers have restricted small-scale meat processors and challenged the lo-cal meat supply chain. Although local food systems have gained enormous scholarly attention, little attention has been devoted to specifically exploring the meat processing sector. This study investigated the characteristics and challenges of small-scale (<750 employees) and very-small-scale (<200 employees) meat processors in Missouri. Twenty-six meat processors participated in an online survey through Qualtrics, a mail survey, or a structured phone interview between May 2021 and March 2022. We identified the characteristics and constraints related to their businesses. The analysis revealed that 76% of meat processors perceived that their business was in better or much better condition than before the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting their adaptability to the disrupted meat supply chain. However, small-scale meat processing facilities were limited by the labor shortage, complicated regulations and high regulatory compliance costs, a lack of consistent supply, and limited access to tools and equipment. More integrated work is needed to aid smaller processors in positively impacting the local community and environment through locally sourced meat production. This study contains helpful implications for state-level policymaking, extension programs, and future re-search directions.

Predictors of COVID-19 pandemic-associated mental health outcomes of slaughterhouse managers in selected states of Nigeria, 2020

Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health and economic crisis, with major outbreaks occurring amongst meat workers globally. The multiple tasks of ensuring safe operations, adherence to COVID-19 non-pharmacological preventive measures and safeguarding the health of the workers are attendant challenges faced by slaughterhouse managers amidst the pandemic. Yet, little or no attention is paid to COVID-19 pandemic related mental health outcome of these managers in developing countries, especially Nigeria. Methods: a cross sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 91 slaughterhouse managers from four of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria to determine the predictors of COVID-19 pandemic-associated mental health outcome. Data were collected using a validated semi-structured questionnaire which measured COVID-19 related mental health outcome, as well as the explanatory variables including the kind of manager (veterinarian/government worker, butcher), COVID-19 sensitization since the start of pandemic (yes, no), and rate of animal processing since pandemic started (unchanged/increased, reduced). The data were analysed by binary logistic regression using STATA version 14.2. Results: only 13.2% of the respondents had good mental health outcome, 67.0% were on borderline, while 19.8% were poor. More than one-third (34.1%) of the respondents reported a feeling of anxiety that COVID-19 would reduce patronage for their services. Again, 31.9% were always worried about the overall financial demands of COVID-19 mitigation measures and 37.4% were concerned that the slaughterhouse facility lacked requisite infrastructure for risk reduction against COVID-19. Being slaughterhouse managers belonging to the butchers´ association (aOR = 3.03, 95%CI = 0.87-10.59), not having prior COVID-19 sensitization (aOR = 2.27, 95%CI = 0.14-1.39) and feeling that the pandemic had reduced rate of animal processing (2.23, 95%CI = 0.44-11.32) were associated with higher odds of developing poor COVID-19 pandemic related mental health outcome. Conclusion: a high prevalence of poor mental health outcome among the slaughterhouse managers with certain important gaps identified as possible COVID-19 related issues contributing to their mental health distress is reported. Interventional efforts in the slaughterhouses to reduce job-related mental health stressors and consequently improve the health of this workforce are advocated. © Hezekiah Kehinde Adesokan et al.

Temporal Variation of SARS-CoV-2 Levels in Wastewater from a Meat Processing Plant.

Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) on SARS-CoV-2 has been proved to be an effective approach to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 in communities and cities. However, its application was overlooked at smaller scale, such as a single facility. Meat processing plants are hotspots for COVID-19 outbreaks due to their unique environment that are favorable for the survival and persistence of SARS-CoV-2. This is the first known WBS study in meat processing plants. The goal was to understand the temporal variation of the SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater from a meat processing plant in Canada during a three-month campaign and to find any correlation with clinically confirmed cases in the surrounding city area. Higher SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and detection frequencies were observed in the solid fraction compared to the liquid fraction of the wastewater. The viruses can be preserved in the solid fraction of wastewater for up to 12 days. The wastewater virus level did not correlate to the city-wide COVID-19 cases due to the unmatching scales. WBS on SARS-CoV-2 in meat processing plants can be useful for identifying COVID-19 outbreaks in the facility and serve as an effective alternative when resources for routine individual testing are not available.

Covid-19 and disaster capitalism: “Passando a boiada” in the Brazilian meat processing chain

The article discusses the social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the meat processing industry in southern Brazil. Based on the notion of disaster capitalism, we examine how political and corporate agents have taken advantage of the health catastrophe to create a privileged space for simplifications and deregulation in this sector. According to our reasoning, they accelerate precarious work in the meat industry and amplify the harmful effects of agribusiness on local ecologies and global ecosystems. In light of this, we also emphasize the analytical potential that results from the intersection between the categories of syndemics and structural violence to displace the traditional analyses of risk groups and behaviors in highlighting environments and their agents. © 2022, Brazilian Anthropology Association. All rights reserved.

Meat 4.0: Principles and Applications of Industry 4.0 Technologies in the Meat Industry

Meat 4.0 refers to the application the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) technologies in the meat sector. Industry 4.0 components, such as robotics, Internet of Things, Big Data, augmented reality, cybersecurity, and blockchain, have recently transformed many industrial and manufacturing sectors, including agri-food sectors, such as the meat industry. The need for digitalised and automated solutions throughout the whole food supply chain has increased remarkably during the COVID-19 pandemic. This review will introduce the concept of Meat 4.0, highlight its main enablers, and provide an updated overview of recent developments and applications of Industry 4.0 innovations and advanced techniques in digital transformation and process automation of the meat industry. A particular focus will be put on the role of Meat 4.0 enablers in meat processing, preservation and analyses of quality, safety and authenticity. Our literature review shows that Industry 4.0 has significant potential to improve the way meat is processed, preserved, and analysed, reduce food waste and loss, develop safe meat products of high quality, and prevent meat fraud. Despite the current challenges, growing literature shows that the meat sector can be highly automated using smart technologies, such as robots and smart sensors based on spectroscopy and imaging technology.

Treating Workers as Essential Too: An Ethical Framework for Public Health Interventions to Prevent and Control COVID-19 Infections among Meat-processing Facility Workers and Their Communities in the United States.

Meat is a multi-billion-dollar industry that relies on people performing risky physical work inside meat-processing facilities over long shifts in close proximity. These workers are socially disempowered, and many are members of groups beset by historic and ongoing structural discrimination. The combination of working conditions and worker characteristics facilitate the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Workers have been expected to put their health and lives at risk during the pandemic because of government and industry pressures to keep this "essential industry" producing. Numerous interventions can significantly reduce the risks to workers and their communities; however, the industry's implementation has been sporadic and inconsistent. With a focus on the U.S. context, this paper offers an ethical framework for infection prevention and control recommendations grounded in public health values of health and safety, interdependence and solidarity, and health equity and justice, with particular attention to considerations of reciprocity, equitable burden sharing, harm reduction, and health promotion. Meat-processing workers are owed an approach that protects their health relative to the risks of harms to them, their families, and their communities. Sacrifices from businesses benefitting financially from essential industry status are ethically warranted and should acknowledge the risks assumed by workers in the context of existing structural inequities.

Who will pay for workplace reforms in U.S. meat‐processing plants? Simulation results from the USAGE model

It is possible that COVID will trigger permanent changes in work practices that increase costs in U.S. meat‐processing plants. These changes will be beneficial for the safety and economic welfare of meat‐processing workers. However, they will have economic costs. In assessing reform options, policymakers seek guidance from analyses based on models embracing micro detail and an economy‐wide perspective. In this paper, we use USAGE‐Food, a highly disaggregated computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the United States, to work out how additional processing costs would be distributed between consumers of meat products and farmers. We also calculate industry and macroeconomic effects. Despite modelling farmers as owning fixed factors, principally their own labour, we find that the farmer share in extra processing costs is likely to be quite moderate. Throughout the paper, we support simulation results with back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations, diagrams and sensitivity analyses. These devices identify the mechanisms in the model and key data points that are responsible for the main results. In this way, we avoid the black‐box criticism that is sometimes levelled at CGE modelling.

Risk factors associated with an outbreak of COVID-19 in a meat processing plant in southern Germany, April to June 2020.

Meat processing plants have been prominent hotspots for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks around the world. We describe infection prevention measures and risk factors for infection spread at a meat processing plant in Germany with a COVID-19 outbreak from April to June 2020. We analysed a cohort of all employees and defined cases as employees with either a PCR or ELISA positive result. Of 1,270 employees, 453 (36%) had evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The highest attack rates were observed in meat processing and slaughtering areas. Multivariable analysis revealed that being a subcontracted employee (adjusted risk ratio (aRR)): 1.43, 95% CI: 1.06-1.96), working in the meat cutting area (aRR: 2.44, 95% CI: 1.45-4.48), working in the slaughtering area (aRR: 2.35, 95% CI: 1.32-4.45) and being a veterinary inspector (aRR: 4.77, 95% CI: 1.16-23.68) increased infection risk. Sharing accommodation or transportation were not identified as risk factors for infection. Our results suggest that workplace was the main risk factor for infection spread. These results highlight the importance of implementing preventive measures targeting meat processing plants. Face masks, distancing, staggering breaks, increased hygiene and regular testing for SARS-CoV2 helped limit this outbreak, as the plant remained open throughout the outbreak.

On the economics of meat processing, livestock queuing, and worker safety

Meat processing plants use inputs in fixed proportions, but these proportions vary with plant size. Shocks to the supply of labor and livestock induce allocative inefficiency, output reductions, and higher unit costs of production. Both labor conflicts and the pandemic caused long labor shortages resulting in unused capacity and large livestock queues. Industry concentration and vertical integration can mitigate some of these problems by internalizing queuing costs and by reallocating workers across plants. Daily shocks make plants operate with either too many workers or too many live animals. Larger plants choose to be labor-constrained more frequently, creating a trade-off between wages and safety for workers.

Vaccines alone will not prevent COVID-19 outbreaks among migrant workers-the example of meat processing plants.

BACKGROUND: Migrant populations in high-income countries have faced myriad health and social inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Migrants often work in frontline essential services that expose them to COVID-19. Migrant workers in meat processing plants have endured large COVID-19 outbreaks across multiple countries. OBJECTIVES: We examine current scientific evidence around COVID-19 transmission, outcomes, and prevention for migrant workers and highlight meat processing plants as an example. SOURCES: We performed a series of PubMed searches between January 1, 2020 and January 12, 2022. CONTENT: Migrant workers in high-income countries often work in occupations at high risk for COVID-19 transmission, contract COVID-19 at higher rates, and experience worse outcomes than native-born counterparts. For example, meat processing plants represent almost ideal environments for rapid and large-scale SARS-CoV-2 viral transmission; often, large migrant workforces confined to small workspaces perform physically demanding work in noisy environments that require shouting to communicate, increasing workers' respiratory rates and the quantity of aerosolized droplets expelled and thus increasing viral transmission risk. Although enhanced vaccination outreach programs remain an important equity approach for migrant worker safety, they alone are insufficient. The emergence and rapid spread of multiple increasingly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern with variable vaccine escape properties, including Omicron in November 2021, highlight the importance of improved infection prevention and control strategies to protect migrant workers. Across countries, strategies such as improving ventilation and mask quality in many high-risk occupational settings are already required by employment law. Universal mandatory vaccination program should also be considered. IMPLICATIONS: COVID-19 transmission prevention for migrant workers requires an aggressive multicomponent plan that includes (a) improved on-site ventilation and infection prevention and control strategies; (b) improved social supports such as paid sick leave; (c) mobile vaccination clinics and community engagement to overcome vaccine hesitancy and barriers; and (d) consideration of universal mandatory vaccination programs.

Tackling Airborne Virus Threats in the Food Industry: A Proactive Approach.

The current SARS-COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated the dangers that airborne virus (AV) pandemics pose to the health of all workers (particularly in the meat processing industry), the economic health of the food industry, and food security. The impact that the current pandemic has had on the food industry points to the need for a proactive rather than reactive approach towards preventing future AV outbreaks. Such a proactive approach should be based on empirical assessments of current AV food safety practices and the development of more robust practices tailored to the culture and needs of the food industry. Moreover, a proactive approach is necessary in order to better prepare the food industry for future AV outbreaks, protect the health of workers, reduce disparities in AV occupational health risks, and enhance the safety of the food supply chain. The aim of this review is to make the case for a new food safety research paradigm that incorporates the intensive study of airborne viruses under conditions that simulate food industry work environments.

Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission among Meat Processing Workers in Nebraska, USA, and Effectiveness of Risk Mitigation Measures.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has severely impacted the meat processing industry in the United States. We sought to detail demographics and outcomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections among workers in Nebraska meat processing facilities and determine the effects of initiating universal mask policies and installing physical barriers at 13 meat processing facilities. During April 1-July 31, 2020, COVID-19 was diagnosed in 5,002 Nebraska meat processing workers (attack rate 19%). After initiating both universal masking and physical barrier interventions, 8/13 facilities showed a statistically significant reduction in COVID-19 incidence in <10 days. Characteristics and incidence of confirmed cases aligned with many nationwide trends becoming apparent during this pandemic: specifically, high attack rates among meat processing industry workers, disproportionately high risk of adverse outcomes among ethnic and racial minority groups and men, and effectiveness of using multiple prevention and control interventions to reduce disease transmission.

SARS-CoV-2 outbreak investigation in a German meat processing plant.

We describe a multifactorial investigation of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in a large meat processing complex in Germany. Infection event timing, spatial, climate and ventilation conditions in the processing plant, sharing of living quarters and transport, and viral genome sequences were analyzed. Our results suggest that a single index case transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to co-workers over distances of more than 8 m, within a confined work area in which air is constantly recirculated and cooled. Viral genome sequencing shows that all cases share a set of mutations representing a novel sub-branch in the SARS-CoV-2 C20 clade. We identified the same set of mutations in samples collected in the time period between this initial infection cluster and a subsequent outbreak within the same factory, with the largest number of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in a German meat processing facility reported so far. Our results indicate climate conditions, fresh air exchange rates, and airflow as factors that can promote efficient spread of SARS-CoV-2 via long distances and provide insights into possible requirements for pandemic mitigation strategies in industrial workplace settings.