Fraser Health has closed a Coquitlam poultry plant after an outbreak of COVID-19 was reported at the facility.
The shuttering of Superior Poultry Processors Ltd. comes a day after provincial health officials announced two cases of the virus at the plant. Fraser Health sent a SWAT team of medical workers to the facility in an investigation that is still underway.
All of the more than 200 employees of the plant have been screened for the coronavirus and case and contact management continues, according to a spokesperson for Fraser Health.
Fraser Health said it first became aware of a potential outbreak after receiving a positive lab test on Wednesday, April 22, from an employee of the plant. However, in a press briefing the same day, the health authority’s top doctor, Dr. Martin Lavoie, said “we haven’t identified any crossover.”
In a press release Friday, Fraser Health quoted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) saying “there is no evidence to suggest that food is a likely source or route of transmission for the virus.”
“At this time, there have been no reported cases of food or food packaging being associated with the transmission of COVID-19. Therefore, no recall of chicken products distributed from this plant is required,” wrote Fraser Health in a release.
The plant produces 7% of all broiler chickens in the province. That works out to roughly 1.73 million kilograms of chicken, according to the British Columbia Chicken Marketing Board.
The plant is the sister facility to the United Poultry Co. Ltd. in Vancouver, where 29 staff members have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The Tri-City News has contacted the company, however they have refused to respond to requests for comment.
