from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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JAFSCD is the world’s only community-supported journal. JAFSCD content is open access (free) thanks to the generous support of our shareholders: the JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium, Library Shareholders, a growing number of Individual Shareholders, and our six JAFSCD Partners: |
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The cover image represents the University of Kentucky's innovative employee-benefit community supported agriculture (CSA) program, which provides a voucher to offset the cost for employees and retirees. |
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The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and heightened the hazardous working conditions faced by workers in the meatpacking industry. This article examines how diminished regulatory capacity, corporate consolidation, and long-standing issues of worker safety intersected during the pandemic.
As COVID-19 swept across the country, meatpacking workers found themselves on the front lines and facing increased risks to their health and safety. Drawing on 39 in-depth interviews, this research examines factors that shaped worker safety responses in the meatpacking sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings reveal significant barriers to disease mitigation and worker justice, as well as the consequences of industry consolidation and weakened regulatory oversight, during a public health crisis. At a time when federal agencies face budget cuts, staffing shortages, and restructuring, these insights are more critical than ever.
In a new article, Meatpacking in the COVID-19 context: Barriers to disease mitigation, worker justice, and the need for sector reform, author India Luxton presents findings from interviews with local, state, and federal officials, worker advocates, and workers to analyze COVID-19 transmission in meatpacking plants in the United States. India Luxton can be contacted at imluxton@syr.edu.
KEY FINDINGS
Federal oversight of workplace safety in the meatpacking sector faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, including resource constraints, shifting enforcement strategies, and an increased reliance on corporate self-regulation.
There were many barriers to disease mitigation and worker justice during COVID-19, such as language barriers, a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), and difficulties with navigating the workers’ compensation system.
The implications of a concentrated and consolidated sector were revealed during COVID-19, including difficulties with closing plants due to ripple effects in the supply chain.
COVID-19 illustrated the interconnected nature of the food system and the need to develop and strengthen inter- and intra-agency collaborations.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH
Strengthen regulatory oversight: Empower government agencies with more resources and authority to enforce workplace safety standards, ensure compliance, and limit industry influence over regulations.
Enhance interagency coordination: Establish formal agreements (e.g., memoranda of understanding or MOUs; working groups) between federal and state agencies to ensure coordinated responses to issues that transcend agency boundaries.
Improve worker protections: Implement comprehensive safety regulations that address the unique needs of meatpacking workers, provide PPE, prevent retaliation for safety concerns, and improve access to workers’ compensation. -
Diversify the meatpacking sector: Support small and independent processors through financial incentives and policies that reduce industry consolidation, encourage fair competition, and invest in alternative protein sources like plant-based options.
SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
Meatpacking plants stayed open during COVID-19 — but at what cost? A new @JAFSCD article examines barriers to worker safety in the #meatpacking sector during #COVID19. Read the entire article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.143.032 |
Photo above: Photo above: Workers stand in close proximity at a poultry processing plant. Photo © by Zhang Yongxin/Adobe Stock. |
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JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Amanda S. Hege (Appalachian State U), Morgan Cooper (Cape Fear Collective), K. Alexander Soltany (Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health), Diane Beth (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services), Maria Ramirez Perez (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services), Alice Ammerman (U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and Angel Cruz (North Carolina State U)
A newly published article in JAFSCD, Promoting health through transdisciplinary local food system partnerships: Insights from the North Carolina Local Food Council, offers timely and critical insights for states navigating health equity and Medicaid reform. Led by Appalachian State University’s Amanda Hege and a coalition of experts from UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, Harvard, and NC DHHS, the research highlights the efforts of the NC Local Food Council’s Community Health Working Group in supporting the Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP)—a pioneering Medicaid 1115 Demonstrative Waiver initiative that reimbursed non-medical services like medically tailored meals, fruit and vegetable prescriptions, and nutrition education.
Although HOP recently came to an end in North Carolina, this research illuminates its far-reaching impact, making the case for continued investment in initiatives that integrate local food systems into healthcare delivery. The Working Group developed operational guidance for nine food service categories, offering a scalable blueprint for embedding health-promoting food access in Medicaid programs. Corresponding author Amanda S. Hege, MPH, RDN, FAND, can be contacted at hegea@appstate.edu.
“Our experience in North Carolina shows that cross-sector partnerships can transform how we nourish communities,” said lead author Hege. “Now is the time for states to adopt and sustain these innovations before the momentum fades.”
As national interest in “Food is Medicine” grows, this work helps preserve the lessons learned from the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, Medicaid 1115 Waiver in North Carolina — and underscores why programs like it must evolve, not disappear. SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS
Read our latest JAFSCD article about making the case for continued investment in initiatives that integrate local food systems into #healthcare delivery. “Now is the time for states to adopt and sustain these innovations [health equity and #Medicaid #reform] before the momentum fades.” Read the full @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.143.018
Photo above: Fresh vegetable cups prepared for the National School Lunch Program at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, in 2011. USDA photo by Bob Nichols. |
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JAFSCD is benefiting greatly from a group of dedicated volunteer copyeditors who are helping with our large volume of papers. In this rotating section, we recognize and appreciate the folks who are sharing their time and expertise with JAFSCD and our authors. |
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“I have always liked the research and perspectives presented in JAFSCD, coming from both practitioners and academics, and its contributions to the agri-food systems at multiple scales and community development. Publishing in JAFSCD has been a very positive and unique experience: The editors were supportive and quick in their responses. The review process was encouraging, and I felt that my and my coauthors’ perspectives were valued. I get to read several articles in my areas of interest before they are published, and I help researchers and practitioners, from various backgrounds and countries, to get published.”
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—Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies & Sciences, Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, New York, USA) |
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Books Available for Review
Need some summer reading and like to review one and share your thoughts with JAFSCD’s readers? Fill out the quick review query form linked on our home page (right margin, Engage with JAFSCD > Propose a Book Review). You can also use the form to suggest other films, books, or reports for review. The selected reviewer will receive free access to the film or the book (hard copy or e-book).
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Junk Food Politics: How Beverage and Fast Food Industries Are Reshaping Emerging Economies, by Eduardo J. Gómez
From the publisher:
"Why do sugary beverage and fast food industries thrive in the emerging world? ... Despite government commitment to eradicating noncommunicable diseases and innovative prevention programs aimed at reducing obesity and type 2 diabetes, sugary beverage and fast food industries are thriving. But political leaders in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, India, China, and Indonesia are reluctant to introduce policies regulating the marketing and sale of their products, particularly among vulnerable groups like children and the poor. Why?"
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Radical Food Geographies: Power, Knowledge and Resistance, edited by Colleen Hammelman, Charles Z. Levkoe and Kristin Reynolds
From the publisher:
"This collection presents critical and action-oriented approaches to addressing food systems inequities across places, spaces, and scales. With case studies from around the globe, Radical Food Geographies explores interconnections between power structures and the social and ecological dynamics that bring food from the land and water to our plates. Through themes of scale, spatial imaginaries, and human and more-than-human relationships, the authors explore ongoing efforts to co-construct more equitable and sustainable food systems for all. Advancing a radical food geographies praxis, the book reveals multiple forms of resistance and resurgence, and offers examples of co-creating food systems transformation through scholarship, action, and geography."
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The Quinoa Bust: The Making and Unmaking of an Andean Miracle Crop, by Emma McDonell
From the publisher:
"Quinoa rose to global stardom pitched as an unparalleled sustainable development opportunity that heralded a bright future for rural communities devastated by decades of rural-urban migration, civil war, and state neglect. The Quinoa Bust is based in a longitudinal ethnography centered around . . the main quinoa production area in the world’s chief quinoa exporting country. This book traces the social, ecological, technological, and political work that went into transforming a humble Andean grain into a development miracle crop and also highlights that project’s unintended consequences. . . . At a time when so-called forgotten foods are increasingly positioned as sustainable development tools, The Quinoa Bust offers a cautionary tale of fleeting benefits and ambivalent results."
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Be part of a sustainable solution!
Our food system is not sustainable and must be transformed. Climate change, corporate control, resource depletion, and food insecurity threaten communities worldwide. Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Sustainable Food Systems & Security (SFSS) graduate certificate equips you with the knowledge and perspectives to make an impact as a sustainable food system leader.
This six-course online program critically examines contemporary food systems through a sustainability lens, systems thinking, and real-world change. Explore food systems reform, grassroots movements, and community engagement, culminating in an applied community capstone course to help shape a more sustainable future where you live.
Explore KPU’s SFSS program | |
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