key: cord-0916353-ujzhp8w8
authors: nan
title: Slaughterhouses: A major target for COVID-19 prevention
date: 2020-07-12
journal: Bull Acad Natl Med
DOI: 10.1016/j.banm.2020.07.028
sha: 28c1763633cd3b9af70d019319029c1900695938
doc_id: 916353
cord_uid: ujzhp8w8

nan

Since the beginning of the pandemic, significant outbreaks Q3 of COVID-19 have occurred among industrial slaughterhouse employees (including poultry and swine) in several countries including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Brazil. As with the recent outbreak in Germany in the largest pig slaughterhouse in Europe, affecting nearly 1500 of the 6139 people in the establishment, the infection has primarily affected foreign employees, who are more vulnerable due to their precarious situation.

The origin of contamination is human and does apply to slaughtered animals. Pigs and poultry have been experimentally shown to be resistant to Sars-CoV-2. Similarly, the meat does not present any proven risk of contamination for the consumer.

Environmental factors favor the development of COVID-19 outbreaks in slaughterhouses. The atmosphere in the slaughter and cutting rooms is cold and humid, with little natural light. The survival and spread of the virus are favored by ventilation and pressurized water cleaning systems. The permanent wearing of masks is difficult, especially in these enclosed spaces where the noise level often requires people to get closer and raise their voices to exchange between colleagues, which favors viral transmission through saliva droplets. In the deboning and cutting workshops, where working temperatures are often low (4 • C to 10 • C), the water vapor released by employees' breathing leads to a rapid condensation and humidification of the masks, which impairs their filtration capacity. Finally, promiscuity conditions make it difficult to respect a physical distance, both in the locker rooms and on the work line or during breaks. The French National Academy of Medicine and the Veterinary Academy of France recommend:

• to integrate slaughterhouse staff into a national COVID-19 screening program among people in precarious situations [1] ; • to strengthen the medical surveillance of slaughterhouse personnel; • to reinforce the control of working conditions and the compliance with preventive measures, according to the joint instruction of the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food [2] . These controls should focus on individual protective equipment, means of physical distancing, and the conditions of collective housing for staff on precarious contracts; • to reinforce the control by the veterinary services of the hygiene rules applying to personnel, premises, equipment and handling. 

La précarité : un risque majoré de COVID-19

Communiqué de presse de l'Académie vétérinaire de France Q5 N o 10. Recommandations sur la protection de la chaîne alimentaire : le cas particulier des établissements d'abattage

The authors declare that they have no competing interest. Q4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.banm.2020.07.028 0001-4079/