Dozens of staff have tested positive in several major French abattoirs, especially in Côtes-d'Armor (Brittany) and the Loiret (Centre Val-de-Loire).
On May 17, health authority l'Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS) in Brittany said that 69 workers and service providers of the Kermené abattoirs in and around Saint-Jacut-du-Mené - which provide meat for supermarket groups including E.Leclerc - had tested positive for the virus.
Similarly, on the same day, the Tradival abattoir in Fleury-les-Aubrais (Loiret) said that it had had 34 positive tests among staff so far, and planned to test 400 more staff this week, as well as trace possible contacts of those infected or exposed to the virus. Most of the staff live on the outskirts of Orléans.
The cases come after an outbreak among 11 staff was identified at a poultry factory in Essarts-en-Bocage (Vendée) last week.
No risk to consumers
Food and health authority l'Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire de l'Alimentation de l'Environnement et du Travail (Anses) has said that there is no danger to the food chain or to consumers.
It said: “These tests in abattoirs do not call food safety into question.”
Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Matthieu Revest, a doctor at the CHU hospital in Rennes (Brittany), told local news source France 3: “There is really no reason to think that the virus will leave the abattoirs via the [meat] products. This is a virus that is spread via humans, by respiratory airways.
“In an abattoir, the safety processes are such that the risk is reduced to zero through the systems of production. All along the chain, the products are very protected - and were, even before this epidemic. The virus will not survive the protection processes of the meat against other normal pathogens, such as bacteria.
“Protection measures used in food factories are largely sufficient to avoid any risk to the consumer.”
The prefecture of Côtes-d'Armor stated: “The State’s inspection services guarantee the cleanliness of all the carcasses that leave the abattoir. Each carcass is individually inspected.”
The risk is low of the virus leaving the factory on the meat packaging too, experts have said.
Dr. Yvon le Flohic, GP in Ploufragan (Côtes-d’Armor) told France 3: “The contamination route of Covid-19 is respiratory. When you eat the virus, it enters an acidic area [the stomach]. The digestive tract is not how we get respiratory viruses. We do not get ‘flu through eating a steak.”
The act of cooking also kills viruses and bacteria.
Marie-Agnès Linguet, mayor of Fleury-les-Aubrais - where one of the abattoirs is located - said: “We must end certain rumours. I have heard some people say they will throw out their meat or pâté.. [But] there is no reason not to keep them.”
How did it spread?
Investigations are ongoing into how the virus was spread among staff.
The Tradival abattoir in particular has had previous problems with hygiene; its processing unit was closed in December 2019 after an outbreak of listeria among customers who had eaten some of its products.
But in this case, local prefect Pierre Pouessël said: “They told us that staff had masks, hand sanitiser gel, and that there were temperature checks at the entrance. It seems as though the health protocol was followed.”
Director general of parent company Sicarev, Ludovic Paccard, said: “Our priority is to protect the health of our staff and service providers. We have had several barrier measures in place since March 23, including voluntary temperature checks. Each staff member has fabric masks to move between their vehicles and work station.”
Union delegate at CGT, Abdel Bouchra, said: “In any case, all year round, we have masks, sanitiser gel, interior clothes and exterior clothes. We are talking about the food industry; we don’t mess around with hygiene.”
Staff member Lydie Hardoin, who works in ordering, said: “They really did everything they could [to protect] against Covid. I saw my colleagues in the packaging department; they weren’t standing side-by-side. And they had scrubs, a tunic, a mask, a hairnet, a hood; fabric gloves, and then latex gloves over the top.”
Pending the investigation, the Tradival abattoir itself will remain closed until at least May 25. All staff who have tested positive have been isolated, and their contacts traced. Further tests are continuing.
In a further statement, Anses said: “The virus is circulating, and it is among us; but these cases in abattoirs do not present an extra risk."
