The U.S. pork industry and agricultural regulators are discussing the prospect of euthanizing thousands of pigs, after coronavirus outbreaks closed major processing plants.

The industry typically slaughters around 510,000 pigs daily for bacon, hams and sausage. Covid-19 outbreaks among plant workers have forced closures of facilities that typically process roughly one-fifth of the daily total, or 105,000 pigs a day, leading to a backup on farms and raising the prospect of having to euthanize them and then render or bury the...