News Corona
NVWA shuts down VanDrie Group slaughterhouse
The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has immediately stopped inspection activities at ESA calf slaughterhouse in Apeldoorn. This immediately stops the slaughter process. Slaughterhouse ESA is part of the VanDrie Group.
The NVWA took the decision because employees who tested positive for corona this morning were still allowed in by the company. This enabled them to get in touch with vets from the NVWA and their assistants.
Infected employees enter company
After a dozen employees had previously tested positive for the coronavirus, all other employees who wanted to work at the location were subjected to a rapid test. However, employees who also turned out to have the virus after the test were not sent home, but were allowed to enter the company buildings. This was the reason for the NVWA to immediately stop the inspection work. Because animals may only be slaughtered if they can be inspected, the slaughter process was also immediately halted. Animals that were already present at the slaughterhouse must now be housed there for that long.
According to the NVWA, slaughter can only be resumed after an action plan has been drawn up. In this plan, the company must state how it will ensure that employees comply with the corona measures so that everyone who works at the location can work safely. The production process can only be resumed once such a plan has been approved by the NVWA. The NVWA states that it is of the utmost importance that its veterinarians, assistants and all other employees in slaughterhouses can do their work safely.
Statement VanDrie Group
The above is based on information from the NVWA. The VanDrie Group itself gives a completely different lecture on its website. A statement from the company states that the company has been temporarily shut down as a precaution, following a 'significant number of employees who tested positive'. Suspending slaughter activities would be the only appropriate measure at this point. After a cleaning and disinfection round, external experts must assess whether a healthy and safe working environment can be created again, according to the statement from the VanDrie Group.
Steve Wissink
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