Mountaire

A small storefront has become a Latino grocery store called Tienda Centro reads the sign. Siler City has one of the highest rates of COVID infection in North Carolina

Latinos, the coronavirus and a single ZIP code

May 29, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Latinos, the coronavirus and a single ZIP code - North Carolina Health News

The 27344 ZIP code, which includes Siler City and Mountaire Farms, has become a hotspot for the coronavirus in North Carolina. Latinos who live in the ZIP code are suffering greatly, but nonprofit organizations can only do so much.

By Greg Barnes and Victoria Bouloubasis This story is being co-published with Enlace Latino NC. Read it here in Spanish. Maricela Martinez still remembers getting her first paycheck from a chicken processing plant in Siler City — $280 for a week’s worth of work back in 1999. “It made me cry,” Martinez said. “This was […]

we look through a chain link fence into an industrial complex / poultry plantwhere multiple workers have tested positive for COVID-19

As COVID races through Mountaire Farms poultry plant, workers deemed vital feel dispensable

May 28, 2020 by Victoria Bouloubasis

As COVID races through Mountaire Farms poultry plant, workers deemed vital feel dispensable - North Carolina Health News

Mountaire criticized for moving too slowly to protect workers who weren’t aware of coronavirus cases in workplace.

By Victoria Bouloubasis and Greg Barnes This story is being co-published with Enlace Latino NC. Read it here in Spanish. On a rapidly moving production line at Mountaire Farms in Siler City, Ana uses a sharp knife to slice the wings off a chicken in less than two seconds, making sure they land into a […]

Raw chickens hang from wires at a poultry plant. Poultry companies are selling chicken for cheap amidst coroanvirus

Poultry companies selling chicken cheap out of the back of trucks

April 25, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Poultry companies selling chicken cheap out of the back of trucks - North Carolina Health News

Companies say the sales are a way to be good corporate citizens during the pandemic, but there are also other forces at play.

By Greg Barnes Maggie Hooks waited in a long line of vehicles that snaked from behind the Salemburg Fire Department to Main Street and far beyond. Hooks and hundreds of others — perhaps more people than this small Sampson County town has residents — were there to get chicken that the House of Raeford was […]

shows hog carcasses hanging in a processing plant.

Coronavirus invading N.C. meat processing plants

April 22, 2020 by Greg Barnes

Coronavirus invading N.C. meat processing plants - North Carolina Health News

Five processing plants, including the mammoth Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Tar Heel, are experiencing outbreaks of the coronavirus, state health officials say.

By Greg Barnes Additional contributions by Enlace Latino NC staff It didn’t take long for the coronavirus to sweep through a Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. On March 26, the plant announced its first case of COVID-19. By April 13, more than 300 workers had tested positive. Today the plant is considered […]

Additional Thanks

Categories