Conservatives are freaking out over accidents at food processing plants

Tucker Carlson and other conservative figures are spreading a conspiracy theory about the national food supply.

The conspiracy is based on an image that circulated last week on Facebook showing local news headlines about fires and other mishaps at food processing plants around the country, and rumors of trouble in the food supply then spread from Telegram to Fox News, reported The Daily Beast.

“Industrial accidents happen, of course, but this is a lot of industrial accidents at food processing facilities,” Carlson said during the April 21 episode of his highly watched prime-time show.

Seattle talk radio host Jason Rantz then joined him to discuss the "very suspicious" fires, even if neither conservative broadcaster could explain exactly what was going on.

IN OTHER NEWS: Governor thought Trump was having a 'nervous breakdown' during 'scary 'phone call

“You’ve got some people speculating this may be an intentional way to disrupt the food supply,” Rantz said.

Although the fires and other accidents were described as recent, the first headline cited in the meme was from January 2021 and other websites cited events from 2019 to suggest a sinister plot against food production.

Carlson also highlighted a pair of plane crashes at an Idaho potato plant and a General Mills plant in Georgia, although neither incident appeared suspicious to investigators or caused enough damage to seriously disrupt operations at either facility.

The conspiracy theorists have vaguely suggested the Biden administration was behind the "attacks," without explaining why, or blamed them for rising food prices, and Carlson was unable to say whether the number of fires was noteworthy.

“What are the odds of that?” Carlson said. “I have no idea.”