'COVID-19 is in almost every meat plant in the country'

Vets are calling on the HSE to ramp up testing for COVID-19 in meat factories amid increasing concern over the spread of the virus.

Close working conditions and a large migrant workforce mean that factories are at a greater risk of becoming incubators for the virus, with SIPTU and Migrant Ireland already calling on the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to inspect Liffey Meats in Cavan.

We want to see more testing for COVID-19

Conor Geraghty, president of Veterinary Ireland, said factories need to do more to ensure the safety of veterinary staff working in plants.

“We want to see more testing for COVID-19 at certain factory sites, contact tracing and PPE,” Geraghty told the Irish Farmers Journal.

He said there was a lack of communication between the HSE and the veterinary community with regard to testing procedure in meat factories.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that all staff were tested by the HSE at the Rosderra plant in Roscrea after concerns were raised by veterinary staff there.

This newspaper also understands that some veterinary staff working in factories have contracted the virus and there are calls for HSE testing to be rolled out to other plants before the end of the week and the Department of Health is considering prioritising testing for food industry workers.

Veterinary inspectors

One veterinary inspector (VI) who wished to remain anonymous told the Irish Farmers Journal: “COVID-19 is in almost every meat plant in the country. Everybody knows it, I’m not breaking any news.”

Up to 10% of the employees of the factory I’m working in are either sick or self-isolating

He said that up to five of the temporary veterinary inspectors (TVIs) who worked for him had called to say they wouldn’t be doing any factory work during the pandemic over fears of contracting the virus and jeopardising their own practices.

In regard to the factory where he worked, he said: “Up to 10% of the employees of the factory I’m working in are either sick or self-isolating.

“A lot of migrant workers live together so the virus can spread faster between them.

We need to keep things moving so we don’t create an animal welfare issue

“The factory are doing everything they can to keep things moving and have staggered breaks and take people’s temperature before work. We need to keep things moving so we don’t create an animal welfare issue for farmers but it is still a problem.”

Worker permits

The number of non-EEA worker permits issued to meat factories from January to March this year more than doubled compared to the same period last year – going from 205 to 445. The highest proportion went to Liffey Meats, ABP and Dawn Meats. The majority of permits were for Brazilian workers.

Edel McGinley of Migrants Ireland said they had received calls from concerned meat workers while SIPTU’s Greg Ennis acknowledged the need to keep the food industry moving he said if a factory couldn’t provide adequate facilities to prevent infection then they shouldn’t be operating.

Meat factories

Meat factories have insisted that adequate provisions have been made for workers. In response to social media reports over the weekend of a COVID-19 outbreak in its Cavan plant, Liffey Meats stated: “We are in ongoing contact with the HSE, who have confirmed that they are very satisfied with all the measures we have in place.”

Dawn Meats also said they had implemented a detailed series of measures

Kepak Clonee reported a number of cases and the company said some employees were in self-isolation but that they had implemented a number of measures to protect staff and all their sites remained fully operational. Dawn Meats also said they had implemented a detailed series of measures.

This statement was echoed by ABP which said it had a “comprehensive range of measures”, but added: “Thankfully, from a welfare and business continuity perspective, we are beginning to see reduced levels of absence across the facilities.

“We remain vigilant and will continue to maintain our robust procedures in place for the foreseeable future.”

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