Perdue Farms, a US meat processing company, said that an employee at its further processing facility in Perry, Georgia has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The meat producer said that the affected employee did not come for work for more than seven days. After getting a notification about the development, the company is said to have enforced its pandemic response protocols in line with the guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Perdue Farms said that it is checking with whom all the concerned employee had come into contact recently at the premises. The meat processing company is also said to have carried out thorough cleaning and sanitization of the entire further processing facility in Perry.

The meat processor as such claims to fully sanitize all its facilities every 24 hours. Furthermore, it has undertaken additional sanitization work in areas accessed by the impacted associate during the prior 14 days.

In addition to that, the company is said to have temperature checks across all facilities and is making its remaining employees to adhere to the CDC guidelines for proper hygiene.

Perdue Farms said that the employee with coronavirus is in quarantine for 14 days and will still get pay and will not have any attendance penalty, and could come back to work after getting approval from a healthcare provider.

Jim Perdue – Perdue Farms chairman said: “Our greatest concern is for the health and safety of our Associates. We are committed to supporting them as they remain dedicated to their roles as essential personnel during this uncharted time.”

The company said that as  per the CDC, the novel coronavirus is not known to be a food-borne pathogen and, “because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from food products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient, refrigerated, or frozen temperatures.”

  Coronavirus, Georgia, Meat processing company, Novel Coronavirus, Perdue Farms, US meat processing company