Meat Shortages Reopen Costly Path to Smaller U.S. Plants
- Consolidation comes under fire after virus-fueled shutdowns
- It’s time-consuming and expensive to open new plants
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When coronavirus outbreaks forced shutdowns at America’s giant meat plants, it quickly created a bottleneck: Farmers had nowhere to sell their animals, while consumers faced shortages and surging prices. New, smaller slaughterhouses could be the antidote to industry concentration, but it’s no quick fix.
Opening a slaughterhouse has plenty of hurdles. The facilities -- where animals are killed, butchered and meat is packaged into consumer-friendly cuts -- aren’t always welcomed by locals. And there can be other challenges to finding the right location.