MONMOUTH, Ill. -- A western Illinois pork-processing plant is suspending operations after some of its employees contracted COVID-19.
Smithfield Foods Inc. announced Friday that it will shutter operations at its Monmouth, Illinois, plant beginning Monday and until further notice.
The Virginia-based company says a “small portion” of the plant’s 1,700 employees tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
The Monmouth plant represents about 3 percent of U.S. fresh pork supplies and also produces bacon.
Employees will be paid during the closure.
Smithfield also has closed meatpacking plants in Cudahy, Wisconsin; Martin City, Missouri; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.