April 16, 2021

Cargill to temporarily close Ontario, Canada poultry plant because of COVID-19 outbreak

Cargill said it will temporarily shut down its London, Ontario, Canada poultry plant because of a COVID-19 outbreak among workers, the Canadian Press reported.

The company said 82 of out 900 workers there have been infected with COVID-19, adding that it has not set a date for the plant to reopen.

Cargill said it closed the plant out of caution, with workers receiving a weekly guarantee of 36 hours of pay.

The company also said COVID-19 testing has been made available to all its workers, and encouraged workers who are ill or exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the past 14 days to stay home.

The company is working with public health officials to ensure prevention, testing, and cleaning of its facilities, and that its workers are adhering to quarantine protocols.

The company said the plant has maintained safety measures for months, such as temperature testing, increased cleaning and sanitisation, wearing of face masks, screening between workers' stations, banning visitors, practising social distancing measures, providing staggered breaks, and reducing carpooling.

Cargill's London, Ontario plant is able to process 80,000 chickens daily.

- The Canadian Press