Cargill has reduced production at one of Canada’s biggest beef-packing plants after several dozen workers became infected with Covid-19, according to a report by Reuters.
A company spokesman said that the Canadian arm of the US agribusiness had temporarily idled the second production shift at the Alberta plant on Monday.
According to Cargill’s website, the plant is a fully integrated beef processing facility, which processes 4,500 head of cattle per day under normal circumstances.
Tom Hesse, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 401, said that workers had asked the plant and two other meat processing companies in Alberta to close completely for two weeks because of concerns for their safety.
Hesse claimed in an interview, cited by Reuters, that the facility is “built around efficiency”, with employees working closely together – conditions which render it unsafe to operate under current circumstances. He reported that 38 workers at the plant have tested positive for the virus.
The news follows a raft of coronavirus-related disruptions at other meat plants across North America. Most recently, Smithfield Foods announced the temporary closure of a pork plant in South Dakota and JBS a beef facility in Colorado.
Cargill has also previously announced the closure of a facility in Hazelton, Pennsylvania.
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