Three California Food Suppliers Are Ordered to Shutter Following Unreported Coronavirus Outbreaks

Los Angeles health officials ordered three area food suppliers to shutter due to unreported coronavirus outbreaks among their workers.

“S & S Foods in Azusa had a total of 58 employees test positive for the virus, Mission Foods Corp. in Commerce had 40 who tested positive, and Golden State Foods Corp. in the City of Industry had 43 employees with the virus,” reported KTLA.

“They have significant outbreaks amongst their employees, [and] we were not notified, as we’re required to be notified, once they had their three cases,” said LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. “Our inspector asked them to make some modifications to really enhance their infection control protocols at all three sites,” she then added.

Golden State Foods is one of McDonald‘s largest suppliers, Fox Business said.

3 California food suppliers ordered to close after coronavirus outbreaks go unreported. No need to close them just because a couple people are sick https://t.co/N3QrvfTwej #FoxBusiness

— kevin scott true (@topwater196) July 29, 2020

According to KTLA, 67-year-old Mission Foods employee Jose Roberto Alvarez died in July after contracting the virus. His family also said the company did not adequately protect him.

“He would come home and tell my mom someone else got it, then someone else got it. There were rumblings he heard among the facility,” his daughter Alisha Alvarez said, as reported by KTLA. “The fact that his work did not disclose that other people were sick, and putting him in harm’s way, is truly unbelievable.”

A lot of workers in the food industry have continued clocking in amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Fox Business, the pandemic had a negative impact on the meat processing plants early on.

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