A tinned food giant Princes was forced to close its Cambridgeshire factory for 24 hours following an outbreak of coronavirus among staff.
Staff from the Wisbech plant began displaying coronavirus symptoms and were instructed to self-isolate and contact health authorities to get tested.
Fourteen of the factory’s 407 employees tested positive, forcing the plant to close on Tuesday while deep cleaning was carried out.
A company spokesperson said the 14 infected employees would be ‘logged as part of track and trace efforts’.
The factory, which has now reopened, is the latest food processing plant to be hit by outbreaks of the virus in recent days, raising fears that it could be spreading in enclosed and cold spaces.
The Lynn Road factory produces canned and pouch products including baked beans, soups, pulses, pasta, vegetables and sauces.
A Princes spokesperson said: ‘A deep clean of the facilities these colleagues used was also conducted, alongside further stringent cleaning across the site.
‘As an additional step, we took the responsible decision to temporarily close the whole site for 24 hours so a further deep clean could be completed.’
The company added that it has implemented social distancing measures, provided staff with PPE, and ‘adapted our work environment’ to minimise the chances of infection in the factory.
‘We remain in close contact with Public Health England and Fenland Council so they are fully informed of our approach and developments at the site’ the spokesperson said.
It comes after the whole island of Anglesey in Wales — home to 70,000 people — came under threat of lockdown when a chicken factory shut down because hundreds of staff tested positive for Covid-19.
Public Health Wales reported 200 confirmed Covid-19 cases at the 2 Sisters chicken processing plant, which employs 500 people in Llangefni on Anglesey.
Another 34 cases were reported at Kepak in Merthyr Tydfil and 70 at Rowan Foods in Wrexham.
Yesterday Sir Patrick Vallance was forced to reassure Britons that risk of catching coronavirus from eating meat is ‘very low’, following the spate in factory infections.
Number 10’s chief scientific adviser said food safety officials who looked ‘carefully’ at whether meat is a vector ruled the risk was slim.
Dismissing fears of contaminated meat in yesterday’s Downing Street press conference, he said: ‘The meat itself is not the issue but the environment in which this takes place is.’
Sir Patrick added that the virus ‘prefers’ cold places such as meat-processing plants, which are often chilled to preserve them.
He added it can be ‘difficult’ to keep workers separated in cramped factories and communal areas, and warned staff may have to speak loudly — which studies have suggested can spread the virus.
England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said: ‘Meat-packing factories, abattoirs and food-processing and packing areas have led to several outbreaks around the world and, therefore, are an area where we’ll have to take the mitigation efforts particularly seriously.’
