Problems Continue to Mount for Tyson

When it rains it pours on Tyson Foods, and lately there seems to be a monsoon hovering over the Springdale headquarters.

In a December to forget, Tyson Foods was hit with more bad news on the year’s final day when IBP Inc. — acquired by Tyson in September — voluntarily recalled 266,000 pounds of ham products. The meat came from a processing plant in Logansport, Ind., where the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into alleged tampering with the pork.

“We determined that someone in the plant put some metal-based objects in meat from one of the production lines in an isolated area of the plant,” IBP spokesman Gary Mickelson said.

One report said the investigation was focusing on one employee who may have placed nails in the meat.

The USDA said the ham was produced Dec. 18-19 and was distributed to retail and wholesale firms in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio.

The meat recall is just another headache lately for Tyson. On December 19, the U.S. Justice Department announced a 36-count indictment against Tyson following a two-and-a-half year undercover investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The Justice Department charged two Tyson executives and four former managers with corporate conspiracy for smuggling illegal immigrants from Mexico to work at 15 plants in nine states to help boost the company’s profits.

While Tyson strongly denied the charges of corporate conspiracy, experts believe the latest legal battle could cost Tyson government contracts amounting to about $200 million a year with schools, municipalities, etc.

Also, Tyson could be forced to repay about $100 million in money derived from work by illegal aliens.

Meanwhile, Tyson is among several Arkansas poultry firms embattled in a lawsuit with the City of Tulsa for alleged environmental violations. Adding to Tyson’s woes are chicken prices being down 30 percent and beef prices at a 10-year low.