Food Safety and COVID-19: Olymel Corrects the Facts

ST-HYACINTHE, QC, April 3, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - The management of Olymel deplores the untruthful and irresponsible information that an anonymous person circulated on social networks on Friday April 3 to the effect that products from his pork processing facility in Yamachiche could transmit the COVID-19 virus.

All Olymel food processing facilities are under the jurisdiction and constant supervision of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The CFIA and public health officials who are monitoring the disease closely make the same observation and have not found any example of transmission of COVID-19 in a food. This information is also based on scientific research from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which claims to have found no evidence that food is a source or a route of transmission.

In addition to the hygiene, food safety and quality control measures applied in normal times in Olymel facilities, the company has deployed numerous measures to counter the spread of the coronavirus since the beginning of March. The company invites its employees to strictly follow these measures and has even applied a protocol developed by public health services for all of its establishments, including that of Yamachiche.

For more information, the public is invited to consult the CFIA website on this question at the following address: https://www.inspection.gc.ca/covid-19/questions-and-answers/eng/1584648921808/1584648922156 - q1 or that of EFSA : https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/coronavirus-no-evidence-food-source-or-transmission-route

About Olymel

Olymel is Canada's leader in the production, processing and distribution of pork and poultry meats. The company has made feeding the world its mission, which it pursues passionately with products of impeccable quality. It employs near 15,000 people and has production and processing facilities in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. Olymel exports nearly a third of its total sales. Its annual sales reach $4 billion. 

SOURCE Olymel l.p.