Rochelle Foods is all set to reopen its facility in Rochelle, Illinois which makes grocery, foodservice, and specially-formulated cancer nutrition products, as scheduled on 4 May after a 14-day closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The food products supplier said that it had completed testing of its team members last week with most of them testing negative for COVID-19. Of those who tested COVID-19 positive, a number of them had no symptoms of the infection that were noticeable.

Rochelle Foods said that during the temporary halt in operations, additional enhanced safety procedures were put into force, which included deep cleaning of high-touch areas, reconfiguration of workstations and common areas, new guidelines on carpooling, revised shift scheduling, and more extensive measures on social distancing.

The food processing company, which is a fully-owned subsidiary of Hormel Foods, said that will move ahead with a reopening plan that will exceed guidelines from both CDC and OSHA.

Bill Rice – Rochelle Foods plant manager said: “We have been a proud member of Ogle County and Rochelle for decades and we know that this current COVID-19 pandemic has been a very difficult situation for our team members, their families, our friends and neighbors, our community and our nation. We want to thank the community for the outpouring of support as we navigate this pandemic’s impact and those who helped us execute our pilot testing program.

“Everyone who has reached out to us and our team members understands this pandemic is occurring everywhere and we are not alone in our efforts to protect our team members and this community. We have put the safety of our team members first throughout this pandemic and will continue to do so. As a leading employer in the area, and one with our core priority on the health and safety of our employees, we are certainly eager to get back to doing what we love and that’s making great food.”

  Bill Rice, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Hormel Foods, Illinois, Rochelle Foods