JBS begins reopening meat plants shut by cyberattack

Food buyers fear that disruptions from the JBS attack compound already challenging issues in the meat industry when prices are already high.

JBS SA is starting to at least partially reopen most idled beef plants across North America and Australia after a cyberattack forced the world’s largest meat producer to halt operations. The Brazilian food giant said late Tuesday that it had made “significant progress” to resolve the attack and would have the “vast majority” of its plants operational by Wednesday. A second shift at its Greeley, Colorado facility, one of the largest beef plants in the U.S., was set for a regular production day, while plants in Texas, Nebraska and Wisconsin were resuming partial operations, company Facebook posts said. By Thursday, an Omaha plant will resume work while one in Pennsylvania will be back to normal status, labor union leaders said. JBS said its Canadian beef facility in Alberta, one of the largest in the country, has resumed production. Workers at the Longford beef processing plant in Australia have been told operations will resume Friday, according to a spokesman for the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union in Tasmania.