McDonald’s has some beef with today’s largest meat packers.

The slaughterhouse cleaning company that was found to be employing more than 100 children to help sanitize dangerous razor-sharp cutting equipment has continued to lose contracts with the major meat producers since the investigation became public last fall.

Smithfield Foods will pay restaurants and caterers $42 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the giant meat producer of conspiring to inflate pork prices.

Recent high-profile “ransomware” attacks on the world’s largest meat-packing company and the biggest U.S. fuel pipeline have underscored the broader disruptive effects of such extortionist infiltrations.

But in most states, meatpacking workers are still waiting for their turn to be vaccinated and are ranked behind health care workers, residents of long-term care centers and people aged 65 and older. Marc Perrone, UCFW president, argues that meatpacking workers, grocery store employees and other essential workers should be vaccinated ahead of older people who don’t have other health conditions. In a recent union survey that also included grocery and other food production workers, 70% of respondents said they want to be vaccinated. The UFCW, which represents roughly 80% of the nation’s beef and pork workers and 33% of its poultry workers, estimates that at least 21,900 meatpacking workers have been infected or exposed, and 132 have died of COVID-19. “Meatpacking workers like me are still facing risks every day.”___Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, contributed to this report.

A group of worker advocacy organizations has filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging that meat processing companies Tyson and JBS have engaged in workplace racial discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic. The complaint alleges the companies adopted polices that reject U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on distancing and protective gear on meat processing lines. The complaint says the operating procedures have a discriminatory impact on mostly Black, Latino, and Asian workers. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, file)Several worker advocacy organizations have filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging that meat processing companies Tyson and JBS have engaged in racial discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic. Tyson has received more than $109 million from USDA programs this year and JBS more than $45 million, the complaint said.

FILE - In this May 7, 2020, file photo, workers leave the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Logansport, Ind. Federal recommendations meant to keep meatpacking workers safe as they return to plants that were shuttered by the coronavirus have little enforcement muscle behind them, fueling anxiety that working conditions could put employees' lives at risk. Major meatpackers JBS, Smithfield and Tyson have said worker safety is their highest priority. The pandemic is the most massive workers safety crisis in many decades, and OSHA is in the closet. After Trump's executive order developed with input from the industry the Labor Department and OSHA said OSHA would use discretion and consider good faith attempts to follow safety recommendations.