Cargill plant resumes operation

Battling a Covid-19 outbreak, the Cargill poultry processing plant was given the green light to resume operations a week earlier than planned

THE CARGILL POULTRY processing plant at 10 Cuddy Boulevard is resuming production effective Friday, cutting in half a planned shutdown of two weeks to deal with a Covid-19 outbreak at the plant.

On April 14, the plant, , which employs more than 700 people and processes about 100,000 chickens daily, reported at least 82 active cases associated with the outbreak and said it would close for two weeks.

Friday, the company announced an earlier-than-planned return to work.

“Cargill, with the support of the Middlesex-London Health Unit, resumed operations at its London protein facility in Ontario this morning,” Cargill said in a news release.

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Dan Sullivan, media relations director with Cargill, says the company has been working closely with public health officials to safely return to operations.

“We continue to prioritize the health and safety of our employees, that’s our number one focus,” says Sullivan. “We’ve been working closely with the Middlesex-London Health Unit and other public health officials to ensure that the appropriate prevention, testing, cleaning in our facilities has taken place and that our employees are following quarantine protocols at home.”

Dan Flaherty, spokesperson for the Middlesex-London Health Unit, says the health unit is working with the plant as it continues to monitor the outbreak but it has been permitted to reopen to workers on Friday.

Sullivan says the company has put in place a number of safety measures at the facility, including temperature testing, enhanced cleaning and sanitizing, use of face coverings and social distancing where possible.