The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected many parts of our business and operations. The extent that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact general economic conditions and our business, operations and results of operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and are difficult to predict, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the pandemic and additional variants, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, including the distribution and efficacy of vaccines against new variants and the speed of critical mass adoption of available vaccines, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume.
During the pandemic, we experienced slowdowns at certain of our production facilities, primarily due to a decrease in our available workforce, and we anticipate that we may in the future experience additional volatility in our ability to operate our facilities at full utilization rates, depending on a number of factors including team member absenteeism, labor shortages and other workforce disruptions. Any additional extended period of operating at a reduced capacity or more significant reductions in our operations at our facilities could have a material adverse impact on our ability to operate our business and on our results of operations.
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, an increase in operating costs in connection with higher costs associated with ensuring the continued health and safety of team members, including team member costs associated with worker health and availability such as COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. There can be no assurance that the health and safety measures we have taken with respect to COVID-19 will eradicate the risks associated with working in a critical infrastructure industry, including but not limited to, infection of our employees or a temporary reduction in the operating capacity of a facility. Further, there can be no assurance that we will not incur additional direct incremental expenses related to COVID-19 going forward, and that such amounts will not be material or have a material impact on our business, cash flows or results of operations.
Our team members who have tested positive for COVID-19, and in some cases, those working in close contact with diagnosed persons, are required to be quarantined, which has led to a decrease in our available workforce in various locations. In late fiscal 2021, we implemented a requirement for our team members in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1, 2021. We lifted this requirement effective October 31, 2022. Although while it was in effect this requirement generally improved our ability to operate our business effectively in fiscal 2022, the decrease in our available workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic has at times adversely impacted this ability. If a significant percentage of our workforce is unable to work, including because of illness, this could have an adverse effect on our operations and results of operations. In addition, certain of our team members who claim to have tested positive for COVID-19, or their family members, have filed lawsuits seeking compensatory and punitive damages for wrongful death and personal injury claims in several states, and additional team members or family members of team members may assert similar claims as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. If we are unsuccessful in defending against such claims, we may experience significant losses and expenses in connection with these lawsuits, which could adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
We have also experienced, and expect to continue to experience, disruption and volatility in our supply chain, which has resulted, and may continue to result, in increased costs for certain raw materials, packaging materials and transportation costs. The spread of COVID-19 and other related supply chain issues have also disrupted and may continue to disrupt logistics necessary to import, export and deliver products to us and our customers. Many ports and other channels of entry are operating at only a portion of capacity as a result of congestion due to labor and equipment shortages, and means of transporting products within regions or countries may be limited for the same reason. Other supply chain risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic include but are not limited to shutdowns or reduced operations at our suppliers’ facilities, the continued inability of some of our contract producers to manage their livestock, supply chain disruptions for feed grains, changes in consumer orders due to shifting consumer patterns, changes in livestock and protein market prices, and additional disruptions in logistics or the distribution chain for our products, the occurrence of any of which may result in a reduction in our fill rates to our customers. In addition, our operations, or those of independent contract poultry producers and producers who provide the live animals to our production operations, may become more limited in their ability to procure, deliver, or produce our food products because of labor shortages.
As a result of school and in-restaurant dining shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, each of our segments previously experienced a shift in demand from foodservice to retail. While each of our segments has subsequently experienced varying levels of foodservice recovery, the long-term impact of COVID-19 remains uncertain and will depend on a number of future developments, which are uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time. In addition, in the event of a protracted period of economic downturn, demand for our foodservice products may remain below expectations or decrease further, and demand for our retail consumption products may also decrease, which could have an adverse impact on our results of operations.
We also face other risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
- additional increase in input cost may not be adequately captured through pricing;
- adverse changes to the global economy may subject us to risk of material intangible and long-lived asset impairments, adjustments for inventory and market volatility for items subject to fair value measurements such as derivatives and investments;
- an increase in working capital needs and/or an increase in trade accounts receivable write-offs (and associated reserves) as a result of increased financial pressures on our suppliers or customers who are not able to pay in a timely manner or at all;
- a shift in consumer spending as a result of an economic downturn, which could result in consumers moving to private label or lower price products; and
- litigation.
The severity and duration of the current COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken by governmental authorities and other third parties in response are unknown and are impossible to predict with certainty. Any of these disruptions could adversely impact our business and results of operations.