Despite String of Fires, Manufacturers Confident Food Supply Is Secure

Despite String of Fires, Manufacturers Confident Food Supply Is Secure
The Northern Beef Packers processing plant in Aberdeen, S.D. (AP Photo/Dirk Lammers)
Beth Brelje
4/28/2022
Updated:
4/28/2022

At least 16 U.S. food processing plants have been destroyed or damaged by fire since November 2021, leaving some to worry that the national food supply is under attack. But food industry experts are not concerned, saying the fires are unrelated.

To put it in perspective, the United States had 38,821 food and beverage manufacturing establishments in 2019 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture complied data from the census. That means that 0.0004 percent of the U.S. food and beverage manufacturing facilities have been affected by major fires. Or, 99.99 percent of food manufacturing facilities are still operating. Meanwhile, those impacted by fires are either operating again or rebuilding, according to local news reports covering the individual fires.

Still, when grouped together, the incidents make a compelling list.

Maid Rite Steak Company in Lackawana County Pennsylvania had a fire in November 2021 that started in a wall where an air purifying system’s duct work was, WBRE TV reported. It was part of the plant’s oven system. The fire was ruled accidental.

West Side Food Processing Plant in San Antonio, Texas, suffered smoke damage in December 2021, KSAT TV reported.

In January this year, freeze-dried ingredient producer Van Drunen Farms of Momece, Illinois, and potato processor the Oregon Potato Company in Warden, Washington, were destroyed by fires, local news reports show.

Bonanza Meat Company in El Paso, Texas; snack food manufacturer Shearer’s Foods of Hermiston, Oregon; and Wisconsin River Meats in Mauston, Wisconsin, had facilities burned to the ground in February. That same month, Reuters reported heavy damage from a fire at the Louis Dreyfus Company in Claypool, Indiana—the largest fully integrated soybean processing and biodiesel plant in the United States.

There were more fires in March. The fire at the Penobscot McCrum potato processor in Belfast, Maine, destroyed the building. It started on a converter belt near a large deep-frying machine and spread to the roof and ventilation system, causing 138 people to lose their jobs, according to News Center Maine.

The Nestle Hot Pocket factory in Jonesboro, Arkansas, was heavily damaged from a fire on the production line in March; the Maricopa Food Bank in Maricopa, Arizona, was destroyed by fire, and the Rio Fresh onion packing warehouse in San Juan, Texas, was also damaged by fire.

So far in April, there have been four fires, including an explosion and blaze that burned for 12 hours at the Cargill-Nutrena Feed Mill in Lecompte, Louisiana; massive damage at Taylor Farms, the packaged salad plant in Salinas, California; Azure Standard, a warehouse distributor of organic food in Dufur, Oregon, and East Conway Beef and Pork in Conway, New Hampshire.

“Unfortunately, accidents happen in any industry,” Sam Gazdziak, communications director at the American Association of Meat Processors told The Epoch Times. “You can take a lot of steps to prevent them, but they are just tragic accidents.”

The association represents more than 1,600 medium and small meat and poultry plants across the country. These facilities have buildings, wiring and machinery various ages, and that, combined with human error, means things can go wrong sometimes, Gazdziak said.

“While nobody is targeting meat plants or any other kind of plants, this is an opportunity for you to review your fire safety plans and also review your insurance policies,” Gazdziak said. “From what we’ve seen in the past, companies can recover from a fire. The fire itself is not the danger to the existence of the company; it’s having an insufficient amount of insurance or an insurance company that just won’t work with you ... that could be the deal breaker.”

“The biggest disruption the industry ever had was the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic,” Gazdziak said. “Many of the largest facilities either shuttered temporarily or had to reduce capacity for a time. Even then, in the worst of it, nobody starved. There was food available. Maybe you had to go to a different grocery store to find everything needed. If you were looking for ground beef maybe you couldn’t find it in your big box grocery store, so you had to go to your neighborhood meat market. But there was always plenty of food available. If an entire global pandemic can’t knockout the U.S. food supply, a couple of unrelated fires across the country aren’t going to do it either.”

Matt McKinney, communications manager at the Food Industry Association, said in an email to The Epoch Times that the nation’s food supply is secure.

“FMI wants to assure the public that they can have full confidence in the security of the nation’s food supply,” McKinney wrote. “The food industry implements rigorous measures to safeguard food production and ensure Americans can secure the goods they need to keep their families healthy and fed. We remain confident that food suppliers, wholesalers and retailers will continue meeting the needs of the American public.”

It is unknown if anyone is investigating the string of fires. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to The Epoch Times. The FDA said in an email that it declined to comment.

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, which inspects meat and poultry processors, told The Epoch Times it does not keep track of fires.

Beth Brelje is a national, investigative journalist covering politics, wrongdoing, and the stories of everyday people facing extraordinary circumstances. Send her your story ideas: [email protected]
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