Smithfield Foods was in the news last week after delivering some disappointing news to thousands of company employees. After hundreds of employees tested positive for coronavirus at a single Sioux Falls, SD processing plant, the company announced that it would be closing that plant “until further notice.”

Local officials in Sioux Falls, as well as Governor Kristi Noem, urged the company to “temporarily suspend” operations for two weeks, so employees could be quarantined and the plant could be disinfected. The message read, in part: “As a critical infrastructure employer for the nation’s food supply chain and a major employer in Sioux Falls, it is crucial that Smithfield have a healthy workforce to ensure the continuity of operations to feed the nation… At the same time, employees need a healthy work environment…”

However, the company took a different direction, initially announcing a 72-hour closure before extending the closure “indefinitely.” Smithfield CEO Kenneth Sullivan suggested this move, among other similar decisions, could have serious consequences: “The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply… It’s impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running… This will have severe repercussions…”

Difficult and certainly challenging news for people all along the supply chain for protein products, from the farmers who grow the stock to the buyers, processors, retailers, and consumers. According to media reports, just the one Sioux Falls facility supplies 18 million servings of food every day.

Sullivan added that he believes it is his company’s “obligation to help feed the country, now more than ever. We have a stark choice, we are going to produce food or not.”

From a PR perspective, for companies like Smithfield, there is no easy answer to this dilemma. No matter what choice they make, people will disapprove, and someone is likely to suffer. Given the situation, both the decision and the consequences will be made in the public eye, with people offered the easy opportunity to have an opinion both in traditional media and on social media. This, in turn, prompts responses which will fly fast and furious.

Likely, some will use this issue as an opportunity to push a social or political agenda, and the brand will be pulled into those conversations, even if they opt not to directly participate. This is the challenge facing Smithfield’s PR team, as well as all those at other food brands whose supply chains have been disrupted by this virus. They have to make what they see as the best call knowing many are already preparing to cast stones.

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Ronn Torossian is the Founder & Chairman of 5W Public Relations, one of the largest independently owned PR firms in the United States. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company's growth and vision, with the agency earning accolades including being named a Top 50 Global PR Agency by PRovoke Media, a top three NYC PR agency by O'Dwyers, one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces and being awarded multiple American Business Awards, including a Stevie Award for PR Agency of the Year. With over 25 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America's most prolific and well-respected public relations executives. Throughout his career he has advised leading and high-growth businesses, organizations, leaders and boards across corporate, technology and consumer industries. Torossian is known as one of the country's foremost experts on crisis communications. He has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly in the media and has authored two editions of his book, "For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations," which is an industry best-seller. Torossian's strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, a Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider, Metropolitan Magazine's Most Influential New Yorker, and a recipient of Crain's New York Most Notable in Marketing & PR. Outside of 5W, Torossian serves as a business advisor to and investor in multiple early stage businesses across the media, B2B and B2C landscape. Torossian is the proud father of two daughters. He is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and a board member of multiple not for profit organizations.