High Liner Foods has temporarily suspended all production at its Portsmouth, New Hampshire, plant where it has confirmed positive COVID-19 cases. High Liner Foods is activating its COVID-19 response plan including deep cleaning, contact tracing and risk assessment. High Liner Foods will resume operations at its Portsmouth plant as soon as it is responsible to do so. In order to minimize impact to supply, the company has already started redirecting a portion of production from its Portsmouth plant to its Newport News, Virginia, and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia plants.

The latest data from research firm IRI (Information Resources Inc.) and BCG (Boston Consulting Group) for the week ending April 5, shows frozen and refrigerated food sales increasing slightly compared to the week ending March 29. Frozen food purchases rose to +34.7%, compared to the previous week's 31.3%. Dairy showed a higher jump at +29.9% compared to the previous week's +20.9%. The numbers remain significantly elevated compared to last year's sales, due to a spike in purchasing related to COVID-19 stockpiling in early March. 

Sargento Foods Inc. is donating $2 million in cheese to Wisconsin’s anti-hunger leader, Hunger Task Force and its membership organization the Hunger Relief Federation of Wisconsin. To assist families outside Wisconsin, Sargento will provide donated cheese to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S. The family-owned cheese company is providing relief by donating a total of 15.8 million cheese sticks which can feed more than 1.3 million households across the U.S.

Smithfield Foods will close its Cudahy, Wisconsin, and Martin City, Missouri, facilities later this week. Its Cudahy dry sausage and bacon plant will shutter for two weeks. Its Martin City plant, which employs over 400 people and produces spiral and smoked hams, receives raw material from the company’s Sioux Falls, South Dakota facility, which is closed indefinitely. Without these raw materials, the facility cannot continue to run. Smithfield will resume operations in Sioux Falls once it receives further direction from local, state and federal officials. This will also allow the company to bring its Martin City facility back online.

The IIR calls on national governments to consider the various services of refrigeration and air conditioning as “essential services” in the context of the spread of COVID-19 in countless countries around the world. Over 15 million people are employed worldwide in the refrigeration sector--including air conditioning--which consumes about 20% of the overall electricity used worldwide.

Pilot Freight Services (Pilot), a worldwide provider of transportation and logistics services, announces safety protocols to protect their drivers as they continue to move freight and make deliveries during the ongoing pandemic.

Anchor Packaging has redirected a portion of its engineering staff and its 3D laser-printing machine toward making face shields for healthcare workers in the St Louis area. 

The latest data from research firm IRI (Information Resources Inc.) and BCG (Boston Consulting Group) shows frozen and refrigerated food sales leveling off after a sharp sales spike in March due to COVID-19 stockpiling by consumers. 

Smithfield Foods announced that its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, facility will remain closed until further notice. The plant is one of the largest pork processing facilities in the U.S., representing four to five percent of U.S. pork production. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day, and employs 3,700 people. More than 550 independent family farmers supply the plant.

Week-over-week statistics from Clear Seas Research show food and beverage manufacturers have shifted their attention from future business goals to immediate employee welfare and current economic factors impacting their operations. Research conducted in late March showed 73% of those polled were concerned about achieving their business goals the next six months. Research conducted in early April saw that number drop to 53%.