Smithfield Foods expressed its support for the activation of the Defense Production Act which safeguards the country’s food supply that provides sustenance to hundreds of millions of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also protects the livelihoods of millions of American family farmers who produce bountiful livestock supplies but rely on meat processing facilities to convert that abundance into food. Grocers and restaurants are dependent on farmers, processors and distributors to supply protein to the country. This action helps ensure the American people will not experience protein shortages.

The adage, "shoot for the moon and you'll still land among the stars" comes to mind when assessing frozen food sales since early March. The rocket launch of consumer stockpiling created astronomical sales figures that were impossible to sustain, but now that buying has leveled off, the year-over-year numbers look like they'll be hovering around +30% over 2019 sales for weeks to come, if not the rest of 2020, according to new data from the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and 210 Analytics. That means the meteoric sales arc created by panic buying in March has a long way to go before it comes down to normal levels. 

Golden West Food Group (GWFG) is donating $2 million worth of meats to the City of Hope Hospital, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department, Los Angeles Unified School District, Salvation Army, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and others in need, to support the relief efforts associated with COVID-19 pandemic. GWFG is headquartered in Los Angeles County, California.

Foster Farms is donating 400,000 servings of poultry to community hunger relief organizations throughout California to help families impacted economically by COVID-19. Recently, the family-owned company announced a donation of two million servings of protein to food banks and community organizations on the West Coast, and in Louisiana and Alabama. 

SeaPak Shrimp & Seafood Co. and Budweiser are delivering multiple truckloads of SeaPak Budweiser Beer Battered Shrimp in Cincinnati, Ohio, to support those in need during the coronavirus outbreak. The donation will provide 100,000 servings of seafood to Freestore Foodbank--the largest emergency food and services provider in the Greater Cincinnati area, which also includes parts of Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. Ohio’s recent "stay at home" order and other restrictions have made access to food more difficult for many living in Greater Cincinnati.

Brookshire Grocery (BGC) is giving its nearly 14,000 retail employees an additional bonus installment that equals up to a half-week’s pay. This second discretionary bonus complements the first bonus given in March for a total of one-week’s pay, and comes after a temporary pay increase of $1 per hour through May 1, 2020. The company also provided its staff with a supply of face masks to wear while working.  

Butterball donated 500,000 meals to The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina today. The donation will help feed those most impacted by COVID-19 in the communities where Butterball team members live and work.

Smithfield Foods will suspend operations at its Monmouth, Illinois, facility beginning next week and until further notice after a small portion of its 1,700 employees tested positive for COVID-19. The Monmouth plant represents approximately 3% of U.S. fresh pork supplies and also produces bacon. Employees will be paid during the closure.

This week on our From the Cold Corner podcast, we sit down with Tom Swovick, market development manager for proteins at Dematic, to discuss the future of cold storage and logistics through the lens of automation and AGVs, as well as what solutions might be out there to help ease the strain on the cold foods chain from COVID-19 disruptions. Swovick also details Dematic’s virtual tradeshow plans while industry conventions are shut down--a business pivot becoming more common to connect with clients as shelter-in-place continues. 

Farm Rich donated over 1,700 pounds of product--approximately 24,000 mozzarella cheese sticks--to five local food banks and organizations providing food to residents in need. The donations were made to the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia (Brunswick, Georgia, located near Farm Rich HQ), Cincinnati Area Senior Services, and The Healing Center (both in Cincinnati, Ohio), and the Mid-South Food Bank (Memphis, Tennessee).