Massie Was Right: Delaware Chicken Plant Forcing Growers to 'Depopulate' Up to 2 Million Birds

Reverse course before people get hungry. This is a serious issue that needs addressed immediately.https://t.co/EK840bwpWT

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 15, 2020

“Smithfield Foods Inc. said it would close two more pork-processing plants because of the coronavirus pandemic, reducing meat supplies for grocery stores and deepening challenges for farmers.”

Need to pass the PRIME Act now.

(sorry about the paywall)https://t.co/kJJdmlCuCR

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 16, 2020

As restaurants, bars remain closed in several states Meat Purveyors CEO, Pat LaFrieda, tells 'Fox & Friends' the supply system is not broken and there is plenty of meat available.

Allen Harim Foods, a Delaware-based chicken company, is reportedly being forced to kill up to 2 million chickens before they can be slaughtered and packaged for consumers.

In a letter received by the company’s livestock growers, Allen Harim said the chickens were being “depopulated” due to coronavirus-related staffing shortages at its processing plant, which is making it impossible to “harvest the amount of birds” they were previously able to handle.

The news comes as other experts in the meat industry warned of possible and “severe” repercussions for the nation’s food supply chain in the wake of several processing-plant closures related to COVID-19.

In the letter, which one Delaware grower confirmed to be legitimate to the Delaware News Journal, Allen Harim explained that only about 50 percent of its staff was still reporting for work as of April 8. The company had also begun to supply its growers with fewer eggs and chicks as soon as attendance at its processing plant started to dwindle.

WATCH: As California farmers make the hard decision to plow through crops no one is buying, analysts say the drop in food supply will be felt in a few months by consumers eager to buy produce at grocery stores https://t.co/F4LVLT5Gct pic.twitter.com/ecrWcGja7c

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2020

The $2 trillion coronavirus bailout bill featured a carve-out for foreign-owned businesses to take billions of dollars from struggling American citizens to line their coffers.

Israeli Companies Urged to 'Cash In' On $2 Trillion Coronavirus Bailout https://t.co/wDbiLg9rxv

— Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 (@infolibnews) April 14, 2020

BREAKING: Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program is out of money after using up all $350B in funding as more than 1.6M small businesses seek funds. https://t.co/1le6cykhXl

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 16, 2020

I guess #neocons really do hate coming to work, while expecting nurses and truckers and soldiers to keep doing their jobs. Who knew? 🤷‍♂️@RepLizCheney@RepMikeTurner https://t.co/ZWxBlKMCD5

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 16, 2020