Jacob Bunge of The Wall Street Journal tells us how David MacLennan of Cargill Inc. steered on of the world’s largest food suppliers through Covid-19’s world-wide spread. MacLennan is bracing for another surge, Bunge writes (abridged):
David MacLennan steered one of the world’s biggest food suppliers through Covid-19’s world-wide spread in the spring. Now he is bracing for another surge.
Cargill Inc., a 155-year-old company with 155,000 employees in 70 countries, straddles the global food- and agriculture-supply chains, processing farmers’ crops, packing meat and distributing sugar, salt, cotton and other commodities. Its plants supply some of the world’s biggest consumer brands, supermarket chains and restaurants.
The coronavirus pandemic upended those finely tuned supply chains. Since the spring, when meatpacking workers across North America fell sick by the thousands, Cargill and other food processors have revamped plants to defend against the virus that causes Covid-19. The Minnesota-based company installed partitions between processing-line work stations, started checking workers’ temperatures, issued masks and spaced out seating in break rooms. As infection rates rise around the country, Cargill is urging employees to follow similar practices at home.