Empire Kosher Poultry suspended operations at its chicken processing plant in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, after two plant employees tested positive for COVID-19.
According to a report from Crain’s New York Business, the affected employees were immediately removed from the site and self-quarantined.
The poultry plant, which employs about 550 people, normally closes in observance of Passover, but because of the COVID-19 infections, the company decided to close the facility a week earlier. The 2020 Passover begins on April 8. Plans are to reopen the Mifflintown poultry plant on April 14.
Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, a union with membership that works at the plant, commended the company for taking precautions and suspending operations. “Giving it an extreme sanitizing is the right thing to do,” he said.
In a message on the Empire Kosher website, dated March 25, the company said that it was “carefully monitoring the COVID-19 situation and, as an essential and critical part of the food supply, is committed to continuing production of wholesome, safe products for our customers and their families.”
Empire Kosher said its protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic include:
- No visitors to company facilities.
- Limits on employee travel.
- Suspension of all corporate gatherings and events
- Health monitoring of employees.
- Educating employees on the signs and symptoms of COVID-19.
- Enhanced cleaning and sanitizing of the production space and office space.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, there were 7,016 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state as of April 2. The agency reported two confirmed cases in Juniata County, where the Empire Kosher Poultry plant is located.
Other U.S. poultry companies to report cases of COVID-19 include Sanderson Farms, Mountaire Farms, Foster Farms and Perdue Farms.
Empire Kosher is owned by Aterian Investment Partners, which acquired Empire Kosher and FreeBird assets from Hain Celestial in 2019.
View our continuing coverage of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
