Coronavirus Pandemic Poses Challenge To Meat And Seafood Industries

Animal-use industries — namely those supplying meat and seafood to the public — have reported struggles in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

A pause on exports to China has meant that the lobster industry has been hit particularly hard, leaving US and Canadian markets oversupplied in the face of interrupted demand.

The US cattle industry has reportedly seen a plummet in cow meat, or beef, prices just as a new batch of animals were meant to be sent to slaughter and sold as meat. The shift in prices has been credited to “market uncertainty.”

The impacts have not been exclusive to North American markets. In India, rumors linking the poultry industry to COVID-19 have resulted in a plummet in demand for chicken meat in the area.

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Animal Consumption & COVID-19

While there is not any conclusive evidence linking chicken farming or slaughter to the coronavirus outbreak, one current hypothesis is that the spread of the virus from animals to humans could be result of wild animal sale and consumption. 

The exact zoonotic source is unknown. However, researchers did just uncover viral strains related to the novel coronavirus in Malayan pangolins smuggled into China.