Employee at Merced County food plant tests positive for coronavirus, company officials say
An employee at Kagome’s Los Banos food plant has tested positive for coronavirus, company officials confirmed.
The company sent an email to employees last week. On April 10, Kagome’s President and CEO Luis de Oliveira sent a statement to the Sun-Star.
“As employees were notified on April 2, a Kagome employee has tested positive for COVID-19,” the statement read. “This person had not been at the Kagome facility for 2 weeks and contracted the virus during the time period they were off work.”
The plant, located on Johnson Road, remains open. Kagome is known mainly for its tomato-based sauces. The Los Banos plant has been producing sauces, among other items, since the 1980s.
The infected Kagome employee is among the 52 individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Merced County as of Thursday. Eight Merced County residents have recovered so far, and three have died from coronavirus-related complications.
The company said the Merced County Department of Public Health confirmed that no other employees were in contact with the individual during the infectious period, and are therefore not at risk of exposure from the infected employee.
Kagome is disinfecting its facilities in accordance with health authorities’ guidelines to prevent the virus’s spread, according to the company.
The company also hired a third party to sanitize its facilities during normal shut down hours and spend additional hours to deep clean, the statement said.
“We believe that our processes are assisting us in continuing to offer a safe environment for employees and to ensure continued essential operations while helping to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Kagome’s statement read.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 4:17 PM.
