Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 10/10/18


A worker at Smithfield Foods’ Tar Heel, N.C., plant has died after an accident Tuesday afternoon involving an overhead conveyor, according to local media reports. 

The Bladen County coroner identified the worker as 55-year-old Michael Jessup, who had been a Smithfield employee for more than a decade, according to WECT-TV. A preliminary investigation by the North Carolina Department of Labor indicated Jessup died from injuries suffered when he was struck in the head by a cylinder while trying to remove a bent wheel from a chain drive, the report said.

According to Bladenonline.com, the line accidentally started up while Jessup was performing the mechanical work. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Smithfield has not provided information on the incident after being contacted by Meatingplace this morning.
Smithfield's Tar Heel facility is the world’s largest pork processing plant, employing nearly 5,000 people and processing more than 30,000 hogs each day.

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