Conestoga Meat Products Ltd. is preparing to resume hog slaughter after closing down the plant for one week after seven of a workforce of about 1,000 tested positive for COVID-19.
It is installing plastic shields to separate workers, replacing cardboard ones it had installed, has new equipment such as temperature readers to screen employees before work, and has put up tents and opened conference rooms so workers can maintain recommended distance separation during lunch breaks.
A report in the Waterloo Region Record indicates the plant ran out of hand sanitizer, was unable to acquire face masks and shields and the temperature monitors because supplies it ordered were diverted to health care workers.
The company said it agreed with those diversions.
The plant normally slaughters up to 37,000 hogs per week produced by its 150 owners who are hog farmers.
It is the second-largest hog-slaughtering plant in Ontario. The largest is in Burlington.
