Insights and Stories on Pandemic

Jun. 17, 2020 at 2:28 am CDT

MarketsFarm — Plant protein products were steadily rising in popularity before the COVID-19 pandemic set in — but that industry could also get a boost from consumers shifting away from meat in a post-pandemic world. “There’s an increased level of awareness of hygiene issues in the meat industry,” Vishal Vijay, […]

By Marlo Glass – MarketsFarm

Jun. 15, 2020 at 8:38 pm CDT

Chicago/Washington | Reuters — Smithfield Foods is missing about a third of its employees at a South Dakota pork plant because they are quarantined or afraid to return to work after a severe coronavirus outbreak, according to the workers’ union. Tyson Foods was forced to briefly close its Storm Lake, […]

By Andy Sullivan, Tom Polansek

Jun. 10, 2020 at 12:38 pm CDT

Geneva | Reuters — A United Nations human rights expert voiced alarm on Tuesday at “widespread food shortages and malnutrition” in North Korea, made worse by a nearly five-month border closure with China and strict quarantine measures against COVID-19. Tomas Ojea Quintana, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the […]

By stephanie-nebehay

Jun. 8, 2020 at 12:23 am CDT

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s top health officer on Sunday expressed concern over higher consumption of alcohol and junk food during the coronavirus epidemic, suggesting this could be a sign of worsening mental health. The total number of Canadians killed by the coronavirus edged up by 0.9 per cent to […]

By David Ljunggren

Jun. 8, 2020 at 12:01 am CDT

The COVID-19 pandemic, and Canada’s response to it, have highlighted how rural communities need different strategies than their urban counterparts to provide social services on which the public relies. The Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph hosted a virtual panel in May to discuss COVID-19’s social impacts, in […]

By D.C. Fraser