Cedar Meats worker test mishandled by lab during COVID-19 outbreak
A Cedar Meats employee says shift hours and the production line speed were increased after the company was notified it had a COVID-19 outbreak, as it was revealed at least one staff test was mishandled by a lab.
Working hours increased at Cedar Meats in the days after the abattoir was notified of a COVID-19 outbreak among workers.
The Herald Sun can also reveal a sample from at least one Cedar Meats employee was mishandled by a laboratory, and he is still unsure if he has the virus 10 days after taking the test.
The distraught worker yesterday said he feared workers had been put at greater risk of exposure after Cedar Meats increased its shifts after confirmation of the outbreak.
Cedar Meats last night confirmed it continued receiving and processing livestock days after being notified of coronavirus-positive workers, but denied it increased production before its May 1 shutdown.
“When it became clear that a number of staff had tested positive to COVID-19, Cedar Meats management worked hard to contact the myriad suppliers who had incoming livestock in transit on the way to our factory,” a Cedar Meats statement said.
“We were able to divert a lot of livestock to paddocks.
“We had to process the existing stock we had on site for animal welfare purposes, in order to stop production.
“To cease production, some work had to continue in the cleaned boning room.”
With 76 cases, the outbreak is now the state’s largest.
A senior Cedar Meats employee, who hadn’t been at the plant for four weeks, tested positive to coronavirus on April 2. Another worker tested positive on April 24, a third on April 26.
The Department of Health and Human Services said last week that a thorough risk assessment was launched as soon as the cases were identified, and “work was rapidly scaled back at the facility, with only minimal staff on site to ensure the safe and appropriate management of the remaining animals.”
But a boning room worker told the Herald Sun shift hours and the production line speed significantly increased after April 27, when staff were told colleagues had tested positive.
“I have read reports where they’ve said they had scaled back — no they didn’t,” the worker said. “In fact, I believe we processed a lot more meat that last week, especially the last two days. Whether that was because of the scare, or whether they had an order to fill, I don’t know.”
The worker, who asked not to be identified, said shifts had been cut to five to six hours in the weeks leading up to Anzac Day. But he said shifts blew out to 10 to 11-hour days from April 27 to May 1. An Andrews Government spokesman said Cedar Meats was told to scale back activity on site from April 29.
After undergoing a coronavirus test on May 1, a worker was last night still awaiting his test result. He said he was devastated, knowing he worked beside at least one infected colleague.
“I called the clinic every day, but they don’t give me any answers,” he said. “I want them to tell me what the results are so I can make arrangements.”
The state government spokesman said there had been an “error” in handling the test.
Opposition Health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier called for an inquiry.
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