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.
