House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson held a news conference along with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in Worthington on Wednesday to address pork facility closures and related hog backups. Walz says one of their priorities is to get their processing plants up and running but it has to be done in a way to ensure worker safety.

Peterson says they’re working with JBS in getting some of the hogs euthanized to help deal with the backup caused by the shutdowns.

Peterson says he’s also working to get authority granted to USDA ‘s Ag Marketing Service to assist with animal disposal which they don’t currently have.

Peterson says getting processing plants running again is a national security issue. He says the U.S. is about three weeks away from not having pork on the shelves in the grocery stores unless this processing plant problem is solved. Last week, the JBS processing plant in Worthington shutdown indefinitely as a result of the coronavirus.