The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has carried out 895 inspections of the country’s meat-processing plants, up to May 14, this year, as part of its Covid-19 response.
Answering a parliamentary question this week regarding the DAFM’s handling of Covid-19 outbreaks in meat factories, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConologue said that these DAFM visits included unannounced inspections, on behalf of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) in DAFM-approved food premises.
“These inspections are ongoing and are in addition to the inspections carried out by the HSA itself, and in addition to the 49 premises where the DAFM has a permanent presence.”
Covid-19 review
On the specific question of whether there would be a review of the handling of Covid-19 outbreaks, Minister McConologue said that the DAFM would participate in a review, if the public-health authorities decided to conduct one.
He added:
“It is important to note that the public-health advice for meat-processing plants has evolved since the start of the pandemic as the understanding of the risk factors has increased.
“Meat plants, particularly boning halls, can be noisy and humid workplaces and for food safety reasons, the temperature is kept low through the recirculation of chilled air.
“The experience internationally has been that because of these factors, the Covid-19 virus can be transmitted relatively easily between workers in meat plants.
“To address these risk factors, detailed sector-specific public-health guidelines were issued to meat processing plants early last summer, and implementation of these continues to be monitored.”
PCR testing
He said the DAFM continues to participate on a standing committee established last August to, among other things, oversee a programme of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) serial testing of workers at larger meat plants.
The meat-processing sector is the only sector undergoing PCR serial testing in this way.
Each cycle of PCR testing consists of four weeks. The first cycle started on September 14, 2020 and a further eight cycles have been completed to date.
“More than 180,000 tests have been carried out from cycles one to eight, with a positivity rate of 0.77% overall. The ninth cycle of serial testing is currently under way,” said the minister.
He added that the DAFM, led by head of laboratories Professor Donal Sammin, has also introduced antigen testing to the meat factories as an “additional tool working under a very strict protocol with the factories”.
According to Deputy Bríd Smith, who posed the question on behalf of Deputy Paul Murphy, there have been a total of 108 Covid-19 outbreaks, with more than 3,000 cases, in meat processing plants. She added that 50 workers were hospitalised and 12 required care in intensive care units.
“SIPTU estimates that one in four meat workers got Covid-19 and that, in turn, seeded thousands of cases in the community. That was evidenced by the high level of community transmission in counties and regions where there were numerous meat plants, counties such as Monaghan, Laois and Kildare.”