Nearly 78,000 Covid cases in food chain: At least 349 workers at meat plants, in food processing plants and on farms have died of Covid-19 and at least 77,733 have tested positive for the coronavirus according to data collected by the Food and Environment Reporting Network as of Monday at mid-day. (FERN)
Child labor on palm oil plantations: Tens of thousands of children are believed to work alongside their parents in palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia in work that brings little pay, exposes them to toxic chemicals and results in some of them never going to school. (Associated Press)
Tyson not shielded in Covid death: U.S. district judge Linda Reade ruled that Tyson Foods cannot defend itself in a lawsuit over the Covid-19 death of a worker at its hog slaughter plant in Waterloo, Iowa, by saying it was required by the government to keep the plant in operation because the worker died before President Trump signed the executive order. (Des Moines Register)
NGFA names Seyfert as leader: Mike Seyfert, a former Senate staff worker who is now director of government and industry affairs for FMC Corp, will begin work on March 1 as chief executive of the National Grain and Feed Association, succeeding the retiring Randy Gordon. (NGFA)
USDA updates job training for SNAP recipients: A new regulation allows states to subsidize jobs and apprenticeships for SNAP recipients who are enrolled in the education and training programs that are a $100 million-a-year adjunct of the food stamps program costing more than $60 billion annually. (USDA)