JBS Australia: Processor hit by Covid as industry calls for boosters

More than 40 active Covid cases have been linked to a Brooklyn processor, as the meat industry calls for workers to get booster jabs.

The JBS Australia processing plant, which was at the centre of a Covid-19 outbreak last year, has been hit once again by a number of active cases.

A Victorian meat processing plant has been linked to a Covid-19 outbreak, with more than 40 active cases connected to the plant.

It comes as one industry expert calls for essential workers across agriculture to roll up their sleeves and receive booster shots.

It is understood the JBS Australia plant at Brooklyn in Melbourne has been identified as an outbreak site by the Department of Health and Human Services, with 40 active cases connected to the plant.

JBS Australia’s Brooklyn site was affected by a cluster of Covid-19 in 2020, resulting in the temporary closure of the plant when cases reached 138 in August last year.

JBS Australia’s Brooklyn plant in Melbourne is listed on the DHHS website as a Covid-19 outbreak site.

It is not known whether the outbreak has affected operations at the plant, or how many workers have received Covid-19 booster shots. JBS Australia has been contacted for comment.

Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive Patrick Hutchinson said he was encouraging industry members to begin booster shots, if they hadn’t already.

“Giving availability to those people – our workers – is something we’re very keen to see happen, and quickly,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“Our industry, among others, is vaccine mandated, and now we’re seeing in Western Australia booster shots are mandatory. One would assume if Victoria made vaccines mandatory for our industry, in turn it would follow with boosters.”

Mr Hutchinson said the management of rising Covid-19 cases needed to be linked “to an outcome based on risk”.

“We’ve gone through two years of a Victorian Government kneejerk reaction,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“We would be supporting a similar approach to booster shots for our industry as what we did for vaccines, which is the mandated approach.”