Agriculture has been classified by the federal government as a critical industry that must remain operating even as the rest of the country shuts down to help contain the virus' spread. Public health officials recommend that such workers follow safety precautions such as wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and monitoring temperatures. Employers should also disinfect and clean work spaces.

The shutdowns have also led to a backlog of meat waiting to be processed, especially pork.

Meanwhile, labor unions say the federal government and companies have not done enough to ensure employee safety. On Wednesday, administration officials did not reveal any new regulations or tougher actions to guard against workers in tight quarters are not spreading the virus.

"We need our local health authorities and our state health authorities to do everything they can to balance the demand of keeping our facilities operational and our critical industries going, while at the same time keeping the health and safety of employees as a top priority as well as our communities," said Perdue while speaking at the daily White House press conference on the outbreak.

The public assurance from government officials comes as food industry leaders have been frustrated by the lack of clarity on how they should handle the expanding Covid-19 outbreak.

Perdue cited CDC guidance for critical workers, which allows people who may have been exposed to someone with Covid-19 to stay on the job. But other food industry leaders have found guidance from CDC insufficient for manufacturers trying to keep their employees safe.

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More than 1.5 million people worked in food processing in 2016. Meat processing, which tends to be more labor intensive than other parts of the food sector, accounts for 500,000 of those employees.

Absent clear instructions from the government, a coalition of food industry trade associations ended up coming up with their own guidance for companies to help them figure out when they should proactively screen employees and what other precautions they should take.

“We had to do that as the private sector because the federal government didn’t provide clarity," said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association, a group representing the more than $2 trillion food, beverage and consumer products sector.

“One of the biggest challenges now for us is keeping our workforce healthy and confident," Freeman said.

Perdue also said that there is enough food to accommodate the rapid uptick in grocery store runs as more people eat at home.

"In the United States, we have plenty of food for all of our citizens," he said. "I want to be clear, the bare store shelves you may see in some cities in the country are a demand issue, not a supply issue."

