A new lawsuit filed in a Washington, D.C., court alleges meat giant Smithfield lied to the U.S. public throughout the pandemic in order to protect corporate profits. Food & Water Watch, which brought the suit, says in a statement, “[Smithfield] utterly failed to protect its workers as the coronavirus spread like wildfire throughout its meat processing facilities, and its fearmongering about meat shortages was designed to exploit consumer panic and boost sales.” More than 58,000 U.S. meatpacking and slaughterhouse workers have contracted COVID-19, and 293 have died.