Abattoir worker tested positive to coronavirus a week ago

The Melbourne abattoir at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak has revealed its first employee tested positive four days before it shut down.

Gate closed: The entrance to the Cedar Meats Australia abattoir. Picture: William West/AFP

THE Melbourne abattoir at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak has revealed its first employee tested positive to the virus a week ago.

Thirty-four people associated with Cedar Meats in Brooklyn have now tested positive for the virus.

The facility was shut on Friday for 14 days for thorough cleaning and 350 staff are being tested.

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos announced the outbreak on Saturday, but refused to name the abattoir.

It was revealed the abattoir in question was Cedar Meats yesterday, although the Victorian Department of Health has continued to refuse to confirm the business’ identity.

Cedar Meats general manager Tony Kairouz, who spoke publicly for the first time today, said “we are deeply saddened that there is speculation that we have sought to hide from something that is not of our making — it is an outbreak of a worldwide pandemic at our plant”.

“For the past few days our focus has been 100 per cent inward — on closing down the processing side of our business, taking care of staff and animal welfare,” he said in a statement this afternoon.

“We have in no way sought not be transparent with the Victorian community.”

Mr Kairouz said Cedar Meats first became aware an employee had contracted coronavirus last Monday, “following an admission to Sunshine hospital for an unrelated matter”.

On Wednesday, Cedar Meats was informed four staff, who all worked in one area of the plant, had tested positive for coronavirus.

On Thursday, Cedar Meats mandated all staff to be tested for the virus and on Friday the business closed.

“DHHS worked diligently to endeavour to arrange onsite testing for our 350 staff, however, it wasn’t possible and in the interests of time it was more efficient for staff to access nearby testing facilities,” Mr Kairouz said.

“We worked closely with DHHS and by the end of the day Friday 1 May, all staff had been sent for testing.”

Premier Daniel Andrews defended the decision to close the business on Friday, saying the department’s process had been “appropriate at all stages”.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the abattoir first moved to minimal staffing and then “moved to a shutdown at the earliest possible time”.

“But there were some logistic constraints about having everyone cease work immediately because they had to go through process(es) to be able to get there,” Prof Sutton said.

“There were animal welfare issues with the business so you need minimum staffing on site to ensure animal welfare is looked after.”

Prof Sutton also said it was “the role for (the) specific meatworks to say ‘it’s us’” and was not the role of the health department to make the information public as there were no concerns “about the general community being exposed”.

Cedar Meats is a third-generation family business which processors and sells mutton, lamb, goat and veal.

The business exports to the European Union, north and south America, South East Asia, China, Middle East and Africa.

The closure of Cedar Meats comes a month after The Weekly Times published farmers and food processors demands they be given priority testing for coronavirus in the event of an outbreak on their farm or factory, to avoid having to shut down.