Carroll Cuisine "ready to reopen" on phased basis

Carroll Cuisine in Tullamore, which ceased operations after nine of its employees tested positive for Covid-19, announced this morning that it is to begin reopening on a gradual basis in the coming days.

The meat processing company, which employs some 330 staff in total, said the HSE and and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) "reviewed and approved" the "extensive measures" it has in place to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.

Carroll's announced it was ceasing operations on Monday of this week.

In an interview this morning on Midlands 103 radio, John Comerford the Chief Operating Officer of Carroll's Cuisine, said reopening the plant, in Burlington Business Park, was not like turning on a light switch.

"(Reopening) will take time. It will be over a gradual period, over probably a two-week period," said Mr Comerford.

"From the time we would take in raw meat on one side of the factory, until we send out a finished pack of cooked meat from the other side of the factory, it's a two-week process.

"We temporarily suspended our operations a week ago and at that stage we stopped taking product into the factory and had to clear out the finished stock," he said.

The first positive Coronavirus test involving an employee at the plant occurred on July 31, and nine staff at the plant ultimately tested positive for the virus around that stage.

The remaining 210 Carroll's employees who are based in the plant itself have been tested twice since then and their tests came back negative on both occasions.

Explaining how the crisis arose, Mr Comerford spoke about how an employee in the raw meat area of the plant first displayed symptoms.

"The issue arose in the factory in our raw meat area, where the raw meat comes in. It was fortunate in one sense that it was at the start of the process.

"We had an employee that presented with symptoms. That employee was taken out of the business, sent to their GP, had a test, and unfortunately tested positive.

"We immediately tested all of the people in that particular area (of the plant) and that unfortunately showed up that we had nine positive cases.

"We knew we had a problem obviously then so we tested everybody else in the facility in Tullamore, over 200 people, and all of those people, fortunately, came back with a negative test. That's almost two weeks ago at this stage."

He said the 210 staff were since tested again within the last week and those test results also came back negative.

"We've been working closely with the HSE and the HSA, the health and safety authority and the Department of Agriculture, and they have fully reviewed and fully approved our protocols and processes here in Tullamore.

"Basically we're ready to reopen but, as I said, it's not like a light switch, we can't just turn it on next Monday."

He also emphasised that food businesses were essential services and that ceasing operations at any major food production plant would lead to products not appearing on supermarket shelves.

"Very quickly you will see, if food factories are closed down, that shelves will be empty in the supermarket. Certainly during this week and into the weekend you will see our products not on the shelf," he said.