COVID-contaminated meat carcasses are packaged and carried to consumers

A non-profit physician’s group is asking a federal court to immediately order meat and poultry processing plants to test their products for COVID-19, and make the results of their tests public. Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Keenan weighs in.

Video Transcript

- Do you need to worry about the meat that you're buying, whether it's contaminated with coronavirus? Well, a nonprofit physicians group says yes, and they're asking a federal court to order meat and poultry processing plants to test their products. Our Alexis Keenan is here. She has been covering this story. Alexis, do we need to worry about this? I mean, what exactly is this physicians group saying is going on at these plants?

ALEXIS KEENAN: Yeah, well, I'm certainly starting to think about it. Now, this nonprofit group of physicians, it is made up of a group whose mission is to reduce animal testing in scientific research, also has a prevented-- preventative medicine through food bent. But look, they regularly monitor food safety policy, and they've filed a petition with the USDA saying that they wanted meat and poultry testing to ensure that, at plants where it's processed, that it's not contaminated with COVID-19. They also want those results published so that the public can see what they're eating.

Now, that petition was turned down, and that was the impetus for this lawsuit. In response, the group said that, specifically, they want the meat that's processed for human consumption to be tested. I talked with the attorney for the group, and he described the processing plants for meat and poultry as really a perfect storm, is the way he said it, for spreading the virus. For one, there's the volume of processing at these plants.

You have about 300 cows, 1,000 pigs per hour being processed. You have, on a daily basis, about 20 million birds being processed in US plants. Now, you combine that with the low temperatures that this meat is kept at, not only at the plants, but also in transit, also at stores, also in consumers' homes, and that allows, this lawsuit says, for the virus, if it is there on the meat, to really sustain longer, and if frozen, maybe even indefinitely. You also have workers who are working in really close proximity, along with inspectors, and doing their jobs at that really rapid clip.

Now, so far, Yahoo Finance has heard nothing from the FDA-- sorry, the USDA. We did reach out. And also, you know, arguably, you have to call into question, given the CDC's data that they've been publishing at these meat plants, whether or not this does need to happen. Through May, the CDC said that, of the 23 states that were reporting from processing plants, that infections were at 16,233 cases at that time across 239 facilities. 86 deaths there, and 87% of those cases, a huge number of those infections among racial or ethnic minorities. But in the lawsuit, the numbers are reported to be much higher. The physicians say that there are 40,517 cases so far, 187 deaths.

Also, on the CDC's website, where I took a look, this is what they have to say about the risk that these workers face. They say that the workers have distinctive challenge in controlling disease. They say meat and poultry processing workers may be exposed to the infectious virus through respiratory droplets in the air. It is also possible, they say, that exposure could occur from contact with contaminated surfaces or objects, such as tools, workstations, or breakroom tables. Now, you have to look at that and say there is no mention there of the meat itself. As of July 7th of this year, the CDC reported that 9% of all meatpacking plant workers had tested positive for COVID-19.

- Right, although unclear if any of that meat that ended up with consumers ended up infecting anyone. So we'll count on you to keep following this for us. Thank you, Alexis. Appreciate it.

ALEXIS KEENAN: Thanks, Julie. No testing, no numbers.

- Right, exactly. Thank you.