China has reported its first cluster of Covid-19 cases among workers at a meat processing plant, raising concerns among local consumers who have so far been primarily concerned about the safety of imported food.
Ten confirmed cases were discovered in a factory that slaughters 50 million chickens a year in the northeastern city of Harbin and is owned by Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand, one of the world’s largest poultry producers.
Another 28 factory workers and three family members were asymptomatic, officials said at a press briefing on Thursday.
While China has repeatedly highlighted imported frozen meat and fish as the source of coronavirus cases last year, it has failed to report significant clusters in its own food processing sector.
Meat packers in the United States, Brazil and across Europe were among the groups hardest hit by Covid-19 last year, with thousands of slaughterhouse workers infected.
The cluster in the CP plant has been detected as part of routine screening of people in the area, which has seen an increase in cases in recent weeks.
Samples taken inside the slaughterhouse, its cold storage area and outside the product packaging during inspections earlier this week were also found to be positive for the virus, officials said. the city.
The factory could not be reached for comment on the outbreak. Officials at the company’s Bangkok headquarters did not immediately comment.
News of the outbreak was all the rage on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, with some users urging others not to eat CP products.
Staff who answered the phone at three supermarkets in Harbin City all said the CP chicken had been taken off the shelves.
CP is one of China’s leading chicken processors and a well-known brand of eggs and other processed foods.
The World Health Organization has said people shouldn’t fear food or food packaging during the pandemic.