Production in a pig processing in Antrim County has temporarily ceased following the discovery of a Group of Covid-19 among the workers.
Cranswick, in Cullybackey, near Ballymena, suspended production after 35 cases of coronavirus were known among the plant’s 500 workers.
The closure came into effect on Saturday (August 22), and now they will all be sent for testing.
Talks are reportedly taking place with other processors to take pigs to be slaughtered in Ballymena, according to the BBC.
Cranswick said the fitness and protection of all his colleagues is his number one priority.
One spokesman said: “There has been a recent increase in the number of cases shown in Ballymena and the region as a whole and this has been identified as a network problem.”
“As a result, we can verify that several colleagues in our Ballymena have tested positive for Covid-19.
“If the effects are positive, the individual will have to isolate himself for 10 days; if the effects are negative, the individual will have to isolate himself for 14 days.”
The Public Health Agency said it had made “a number of recommendations.”
“These come with evidence throughout this week and self-isolation of cases known as close contacts.”
Cranswick is the first meat processor to have coronavirus cases among its workforce.
In June, Asda was forced to temporarily close her meat site in West Yorkshire after 165 staff members tested positive for Covid-19.
2 Sisters, which produces a third of all poultry products that feed in the UK, closed its meat factory in Anglesey after an outbreak inflamed thirteen factory workers.
In other parts of Germany, Europe’s largest meat processing has been affected by an epidemic that has quarantined some 7,000 people.
Contact Editor-in-Chief Daniel Wild by emailing [email protected] or by calling 01484 400666 if you have any questions about the content of this article.
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