Invisible No More: The Impact of COVID-19 on Essential Food Production Workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dineen KK ; Herstein JJ ; Lowe AE ; Lowe JJ ; Ramos AK ; Schwedhelm S
• Description:
  From the farms to the packing plants, essential workers in critical food production industries keep food on our tables while risking their and their families' health and well-being to bring home a paycheck. They work in essential industries but are often invisible. The disparities illuminated by COVID-19 are not new. Instead, they are the result of years of inequities built into practices, policies, and systems that reinforce societal power structures. As a society, we are now at an antagonizing moment where we can change our collective trajectory to focus forward and promote equity and justice for workers in agriculture and food-related industries. To that end, we describe our experience and approach in addressing COVID-19 outbreaks in meat processing facilities, which included three pillars of action based on public health ethics and international human rights: (1) worksite prevention and control, (2) community-based prevention and control, and (3) treatment. Our approach can be translated to promote the health, safety, and well-being of the broader agricultural workforce. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Communicable Diseases Farmers Food-Processing Industry Food Handling Food Industry Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural Workers Author Keywords: Meatpacking Coronavirus COVID-19 Ethics Farm Workers Farmworkers Food Processing Industry Food Processing Workers Human Rights Meat Handlers Meat Packing Industry Processing

  More +
• ISSN:
  1059-924X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Nebraska ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  378-382
• Volume:
  25
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061505
• Citation:
  J Agromedicine 2020 Oct; 25(4):378-382
• Contact Point Address:
  Athena K. Ramos, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion, Center for Reducing Health Disparities, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center 984340 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska 68198-4340
• Email:
  aramos@unmc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Nebraska Medical Center - Omaha
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20110901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Agromedicine
• End Date:
  20270831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce3baf20b8cf5af53680360742dd59de1b19cb3953b13c691ae1abe1e85b0613c6b1fe22f95fffd7718993b7633b2bad0a529a9e6e959f995be444ce678c6a93
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225019/cdc_225019_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.55 MB ]