MINT HILL, N.C. -- The pandemic has caused a meat supply shortage across the country, and some restaurants and grocery chains are struggling to find fresh product.

What You Need To Know


  • Meatpacking plants have been forced to close because of Coronavirus

  • Farmers are having to wait longer to get animals processed

  • More than 3,000 people in the meatpacking industry tested positive for COVID-19 through May, according to an industry group


As farmer Dale Mullis knows, it’s not from a lack of supply.

“It’s frustrating, but everybody is working as hard as they can to do what they can for you,” Mullis said.

He owns Mullis Family Farms, which supplies several restaurants throughout the Charlotte area.

According to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, since March at least 30 meatpacking plants closed because of COVID-19, leading to a 40 percent drop in pork slaughter capacity and 25 percent drop in beef capacity.

It’s bottlenecked the industry. Mullis said his processor is booked up until July 2021.

“I’ve called all the way from the lower half of Virginia to the top half of Georgia, North and South Carolina included, and there’s no dates to be had anywhere,” Mullis said.

Mullis expects most of the meat processing plants will be open in the next several months.

UFCWIU reports more than 3,000 people in the meatpacking industry tested positive for COVID-19 from the beginning of March through the end of May.