In the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak, Cargill is temporarily shutting down its Dunlop Drive facility.
In a press release the company said the plant would close Thursday and assess the situation daily.
"We are taking it day by day to make the decision, in partnership with health authorities. Our first priority is our employee safety and doing our part to slow the community spread in the community of Guelph," company spokesperson April Nelson told GuelphToday.
"We are taking this step out of an abundance of caution as our local workforce deals with the community-wide impacts of COVID-19. As we work in partnership with the union, our employees will be paid the 36 hours per week as outlined in our collective agreement," said the release.
There have been a total of 57 confirmed COVID cases at the plant, with 37 cases still active. Another 51 individuals are currently in isolation and Public Health has asked another 200 to get tested.
"Cargill is encouraging employees to be tested. We have also stressed the importance of social distancing for those across the community who have been impacted by the virus. We have encouraged any employees who are sick or have been exposed to anyone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days to stay home. While operational, Cargill offered up to 80 hours of additional paid leave related to COVID-19," the company news release said.
Cargill is "working closely" with local health officials to ensure appropriate prevention, testing, cleaning and quarantine protocols are followed within its facilities.
Safety measures like temperature testing, enhanced cleaning and sanitizing, face coverings, screening between employee stations, prohibiting visitors, adopting social distancing practices where possible, offering staggered breaks and reducing carpooling have been in place for months and will remain in place when we resume full operations.
Below is a comment attributable to Jon Nash, Cargill Protein – North America Leader
“As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of Cargill employees, we have decided to temporarily idle our Guelph protein facility. This was a difficult decision for our team who are operating an essential service and are committed to delivering food for local families and access to markets for farmers and ranchers. We care deeply about our employees and their safety. They are everyday heroes on the frontlines of our food system. Our focus now is on continuing to keep our employees safe and getting our facility back to normal operations," said Cargill Protein head Jon Nash in the release.
To prevent food waste, we will process the nearly 1.55 million meals-worth of protein currently in our facility. We greatly appreciate our employees who are working to complete this effort.
