A chicken processing company based in Delaware killed nearly 2 million chickens this month after many of its workers were sidelined by illness or quarantine orders related to the coronavirus, industry officials said.

The action by Allen Harim Foods was the latest example of how food processors are being affected by the coronavirus, which is keeping workers away because of illness or quarantine. Meat processors, dairy farmers and vegetable growers have shuttered plants or dumped products at a time when many Americans are lining up at food banks or facing scarcity at supermarkets.

Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., which represents plants on the Delmarva Peninsula, a 170-mile-long strip of land shared by Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, announced the plans in a memo to its members on April 9, saying the plant was one of many facing difficulties in meeting production targets.

“Because of reduced attendance, meat processing companies may need to make the difficult choice to humanely depopulate animals on farms instead of transporting them to plants with reduced processing capacity,” Holly Porter, the executive director of the organization, said in a statement on Tuesday.