Durban food factory closed after employee tests positive for Covid-19

Fry Group Foods — a producer of plant-based food — has temporarily closed its Durban factory after an employee tested positive for Covid-19.

MD Caroline Garnett said in a statement on Thursday that since receiving the news late last week, the company had been working with the health department to screen and “where necessary” test production staff.

Garnett said staff who were in direct contact with the manager and those who were still awaiting their tests results had been quarantined. ​

She said the manager was not involved with food production.

“Our entire facility has been disinfected by an independent contracted cleaning company,” she said.

Garnett said the company was also working closely with the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).

“We have taken the added precautionary measure of temporarily closing our facility to ensure the safety of our staff. Over this time we will revisit our Covid-19 risk assessment to ensure that we have adequately addressed all associated risk.”

Garnett said that Fry took food safety “very seriously” and followed stringent food hygiene even before the onset of the pandemic.