Arla Foods confirms COVID-19 cases

The site remains open but Arla has said that it is conducting testing across all staff and contractors. 

The development follows confirmation from fresh prepared food provider Bakkavor and biscuit manufacturer Pladis of new COVID-19 cases at their manufacturing sites this week​. 

A total of 292 people have tested positive for coronavirus at Greencore’s Northampton manufacturing site​​.​

2 Sisters Food Group has confirmed four cases at its factory at Coupar Angus in Scotland. Fyffes Group has temporarily ceased normal operations at its site at Cross Point Business Park in Walsgrave, as 30 cases were confirmed among its workforce​​.

Precautionary steps​

A spokesperson for Arla said: “With the UK lockdown further easing it is expected that confirmed cases will arise, but taking early precautionary steps will help us in our efforts to contain this. Settle has remained in production throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. ​

“This site has reported nine confirmed cases from employees and contractors in the last week, and whilst this is relatively low, given the close knit community at Settle, the contractors that have been visiting the site for essential work and the short timeframe in which the cases have been confirmed, we have decided to implement full site testing for our colleagues and all contractors.”​

It added that the decision has been made with the support of the local authority and Public Health England.

Pandemic​ 

The food sector has been heavily hit by the coronavirus pandemic. 

2 Sisters, which has launched a £1m welfare fund​​ to support staff struggling financially due to the pandemic, suspended production at its chicken plant in Llangefni, Wales, following multiple cases of COVID-19 there​. There have beencases at various food factories across Wales​​. 

In June Princes reopened its factory site in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire following a 24-hour closure to conduct a deep clean after 14 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed at the site​​.

In July,  Arla Foods revealed that its on-account prices for conventional milk and organic milk price would remain unchanged for August 2020. Its manufacturing price for conventional milk remains at  29.26p per litre and the organic price at 37.62p per litre for Arla’s farmer owners who have completed their Arlagarden and Climate Check data, from 1 August 2020.