World’s Top Pork Producer Goes on Defensive Over Virus Response

One of America’s food giants is taking to the media to defend its efforts to keep employees safe and supply food to the nation, in the face of criticism that workers at meat plants haven’t been adequately safeguarded against the coronavirus.

Smithfield Foods Inc. took out a full-page ad in Sunday’s edition of the New York Times to accuse its critics of false narratives and misinformation and to defend its operations to keep the nation fed during the pandemic.

America’s meat and poultry plants have been one of the hardest-hit sectors in the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 16,200 meat plant ...