Foster Farms plant in California was supposed to close Saturday. What happened instead
Foster Farms’ chicken plant in Livingston had its coronavirus-forced shutdown delayed again, this time until Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to the Merced County Department of Public Health.
The plant was given a 48-hour deadline on Thursday to shut down due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases at the plant, a brief reprieve that had followed a phone call with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The deadline was set to expire at 6 p.m. Saturday.
But the county revised the order Saturday after discussions a day earlier with the company. The plant will be permitted to operate until Tuesday night, then will close for six days until Monday, Sept. 7.
Foster Farms, in a statement the company released on Saturday evening, confirmed the closure will take place Tuesday.
“We agree that the best approach to ensuring the future safety of our Livingston plant workers is to begin anew with a clean slate,” Foster Farms said in the statement.
The six-day period will allow for deep cleaning and employee testing.
MCDPH allowed Foster Farms additional time before closure due to the massive coordination efforts required to prepare the facility for appropriate disinfection and safe removal of poultry, according to a Merced County news release.
If proper cleaning and employee testing can’t be completed during those six days, the closure may be extended, according to the county statement.
“During this downtime, the company will complete two rounds of deep cleaning and two rounds of COVID-19 testing covering all 1,400 plant employees,” Foster Farms stated.
Before any employee is permitted to return to work in the Livingston Plant Building, the worker must test negative twice within a seven-day period. Foster Farms has procured kits to complete the mass testing initiative at no cost to employees.
“This Health Order is a significant step toward our ultimate goal of stemming the spread of COVID-19 in our community and saving lives,” said Dr. Salvador Sandoval, Merced County’s public health officer. “We take these types of situations very seriously.
“We’re grateful that Foster Farms was willing to come to the table and reach an agreement that will protect its employees while providing a blueprint for the company to continue its critical food production operations.”
Since MCDPH declared the Foster Farms plant an outbreak on June 29, there have been 392 employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 and eight deaths.
The outbreak at the Livingston Facility accounts for 18% of COVID-19 deaths in the county under age 65, 7% of total county deaths, and four out of 10 coronavirus deaths in Livingston, the health department said.
“The important aspect here isn’t so much the number of shutdown days, but rather the steps Foster Farms will take to safely get their employees back to work,” Livingston Mayor Gurpal Samra said. “We appreciate the consideration of these employees, many of whom are residents of the city of Livingston and surrounding communities.”
The remainder of the Foster Farms Livingston complex that is not experiencing an outbreak will remain open, consistent with the prior Health Order.
This part of the complex will require frequent employee testing provided by Foster Farms, as well as COVID-19 safety guidelines, including social distancing, expanded break rooms, employee screening, proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and other hygienic measures.
Fresno Bee reporter Manuela Tobias contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 29, 2020 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Foster Farms plant in California was supposed to close Saturday. What happened instead."
