Hundreds test positive for coronavirus at Tyson Foods plant in Arkansas

Tyson Foods is looking into reports that China’s customs agency has halted poultry imports from a Tyson facility in the United States after coronavirus cases were confirmed among its employees.

A Tyson spokesman stated on Sunday that the plant in question is in Springdale, Arkansas.

“At Tyson, our top priority is the health and safety of our team members, and we work jointly with the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to ensure that we produce all of our food in full compliance with government safety requirements,” wrote spokesman Gary Mickelson in an email to The Associated Press.

He added that all global and US health organizations accept that there is no evidence to support the transmission of Covid-19 associated with food.

The release out of China on Sunday gave no details of the quantity of meat affected.

On Friday, Tyson Foods announced the results of coronavirus testing at its facilities in Benton and Washington Counties, Arkansas. They stated that about 95 per cent of employees who ultimately tested positive for the virus didn’t show any symptoms. Of the 3,748 employees tested, 481 tested positive for Covid-19, and 455 were asymptomatic.

There have been several other Covid-19 outbreaks at Tyson plants around the United States, including in North Carolina, Nebraska, and Iowa.

In November, China lifted a five-year ban on US poultry. China had blocked US chicken imports a month after an outbreak of avian influenza in December 2014, closing off a market that brought more than $500 million worth of American chicken, turkey and other poultry products in 2013.