China Will No Longer Accept Imports From A Tyson Foods Plant In Arkansas Due To COVID-19 Concerns
China announced that it will no longer be accepting imports from a Tyson Foods facility. The move was made after a Tyson Foods poultry plant found a number of employees had tested positive for coronavirus.
China's General Administration of Customs announced the suspension in a news release yesterday. According to USA Today, Tyson confirmed the location in question was a food plant in Springdale, Arkansas. In the announcement, China said that specific Tyson location "recently occurred employees with new coronary pneumonia aggregation infection."
Experts and the FDA have confirmed that there is no evidence the novel coronavirus can spread through food of any sort. Still, any products from the Springdale Tyson Foods will be suspended upon arrival to the Hong Kong customs department.
A spokesperson for Tyson told the Associated Press that they are working with officials in China to resolve this issue.
"At Tyson, we’re confident our products are safe and we’re hopeful consultations between the U.S. and Chinese governments will resolve this matter,” a spokesperson told The Associated Press: “Our top priority is the health and safety of our team members, and we work closely with the U.S. 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."
The AP reported that results of COVID-19 testing at different Tyson locations showed the majority of employees who tested positive did not show any symptoms. The testing sample size was 3,748 employees, with 481 employees testing positive—455 of them were asymptomatic.
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