Two employees at a Boar's Head meat-processing plant in Forrest City have tested positive for the coronavirus, the delicatessen company confirmed Tuesday.
The employees have been ordered to quarantine, Boar's Head said in a statement provided in response to questions from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"The health and safety of our employees is our top priority as we manage around COVID-19 and we have implemented numerous precautions to continue operating safely as part of the nation's critical infrastructure to keep America fed," the statement read.
The two cases at the meat-processing plant add to the growing number of infections in Forrest City, where a federal prison had 332 confirmed coronavirus cases among inmates and 17 among staff members as of Tuesday, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
Elizabeth Ward, a spokeswoman for Boar's Head Brand, said in an email that the plant produces select delicatessen meats.
She did not respond to specific questions pertaining to how many plant workers have been tested for the virus, the total number of employees at the facility, the types of meats produced at the plant and the date when the two employees were told to self-isolate.
Boar's Head produces deli meats, cheeses and condiments that are sold in stores around the country. Positive cases of the virus also have been reported at Boar's Head facilities in Holland, Mich., and Jarratt, Va.
Facilities producing beef, pork and poultry nationwide have struggled to contain coronavirus infections among workers, reducing production capacity during the pandemic and prompting warnings about the potential threat to the U.S. supply chain.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month reported that 115 meat- or poultry-processing facilities in 19 states had reported cases as of April 27. More than 4,900 workers at these facilities tested positive and 20 workers had died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the CDC reported based on data provided by states.
The figures compiled by the CDC did not refer to any facilities in Arkansas. So far, no meat-processing facility in Arkansas is known to have experienced a large-scale outbreak.
A report published by the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network this week said that as of May 7, according to the state Health Department, 64 workers at plants connected to the poultry industry in Arkansas had tested positive for the virus and at least one worker had died.
An executive order issued by President Donald Trump on April 28 directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure meat and poultry plants remain open wherever possible as an industry critical to the nation's food supply.
Trump's order granted authority to the secretary of agriculture under the Defense Production Act "to ensure America's meat and poultry processors continue operations uninterrupted to the maximum extent possible."
Union leaders representing food-industry workers have criticized the order, saying the administration and industry leaders must do more to protect workers in plants and make testing readily available to them.
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Some employees at meat and poultry plants recently returned to work after Trump's order, the Democrat-Gazette reported earlier this week, including those at facilities in Iowa, Washington, Indiana and other states owned by Springdale-based Tyson Foods.
Tyson told investors earlier this month that hog-processing capacity had declined by 50% after closures and production slowdowns, The Washington Post reported.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, foods produced while an infected worker was on the job do not need to be recalled.
"We do not anticipate that food products would need to be recalled or be withdrawn from the market because of COVID-19, as there is currently no evidence to support the transmission of COVID-19 associated with food or food packaging," the FDA wrote in a March 17 post on the agency's website.
Metro on 05/13/2020