As some food workers across the U.S. are becoming infected by the coronavirus, some plants that process beef, pork and poultry are shutting down -- raising the specter of meat shortages.

With the plant closures, the worry is that consumers will be impacted by shortages and higher prices. In recent weeks, consumers also faced grocers putting buying limits on beef and chicken because of stockpiling.

At Holiday Market, Tom Violantesaid some suppliers have started limiting quantities of pork and beef.

Price increases, Violante fears, will be coming soon.

“At this time, there is more problem with supply and not price,” Violante said. “When the supply chain runs through its current load of beef and pork the supply will be limited and the price increase will follow.”

Stores that use smaller processors said they are not experiencing a shortage as of yet.

Food processing giant Smithfield Foods is the most recent to announce the closure of one its largest pork processing facilities in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, due to COVID-19. More than 200 cases of COVID-19 are linked to the employees at the facility, according to reports.

Other major food processors, such as Tyson Foods and JBS USA , also have shut down some facilities temporarily because of workers becoming ill from the coronavirus.

Smithfield CEO Kenneth Sullivan warned that shuttering plants is pushing the country's meat supply "perilously close" to the edge.

The South Dakota plant represents about 5% of the pork production in the U.S., supplying nearly 130 million servings of food per week, according to a news release. Employing more than 3,700 people, the plant uses has more than 550 independent family farmers that supply pork to the plant. Smithfield is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WH Group of China.

The facility will close until further notice, though Smithfield, according to the news release, will process the current product in inventory.

“It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running," Sullivan said. "These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers. These farmers have nowhere to send their animals.”

Smithfield said it will resume operating with "further direction of local, state and federal officials. " While no reopening date was given, Smithfield said its employees will be paid for the next two weeks.

Chicken does not appear to be impacted, though several stores are limiting quantities customers can buy.

Tom Super, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, said in an email to the Free Press that production and processing of poultry continues and worker safety measures are in place. Store shelves will be restocked, he said, it’s just taking a little longer than normal.

“The companies are working to divert some of the product from the freezers and product that was intended for restaurants, but that takes time and there are some challenges with that in terms of repackaging, labeling and logistics."

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The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union represents 1.3 million workers in food and retail. As of Monday, Marc Perrone, UFCW international president said at least 30 members have died from COVID-19 and more than 3,000 are not at work because they are sick or have been exposed to someone who has the virus.

"Simply put, COVID-19 pandemic presents a clear and present danger to our workers and the nation’s food supply," Perrone said in a nationwide teleconference on Monday.

JBS USA is a leader in processing beef, pork and chicken poultry in the U.S. as well as beef in Canada. Based in Greeley, Colorado, the company has temporarily closed the Greeley beef production facility until April 24.

Christine McCracken, senior protein analyst for Rabobank , based in New York, said consumers should not see a big impact in the short run from that Smithfield plant alone.

"We shouldn't see a dramatic impact or any increases in price on store shelves," McCracken said. "But there could be some disruptions on certain products."

A core issue is labor shortages which began before the coronavirus because of the low unemployment. But a lot of plants, McCracken said, have seen high absenteeism due to child care issues or sickness, that is expecting to continue.

"It's probable with that drop in labor you might have to get a bone in product and do some of the work yourself," McCracken said. "We don't have the workers in the plants."

While there is enough food, McCracken said, consumers might have to make different choices.

"The challenge not only at the plant is in getting product to the store shelf," she said. "Everyone that is working right now has the potential to get COVID. There's been a lot of labor disruptions with drivers and distribution."

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19.

Contact food writer Susan Selasky at: 313-222-6872 or sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.