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UPDATE: COVID-19 outbreak identified at Coquitlam fruit and vegetable plant

the-oppenheimer-group-has-its-headquarters-in-coquitlam-in-the-lee-of-the-port-mann-bridge

A long time Coquitlam produce processing facility has become the latest site of a community outbreak of COVID-19.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said two cases have been confirmed at the Oppenheimer Group, a fruit and vegetable processing plant in the shadow of the Port Mann Bridge.

“The public health investigation is ongoing, active contract tracing is underway and the plant remains open at this time,” said Henry. 

In an email from Fraser Health, a spokesperson told the Tri-City News that it inspected the plant on May 13 to make sure it was meeting prevention and control standards. To date, none of the workplace contacts have any symptoms and, so far, there’s no evidence of the spread of the virus at the facility.

And while Dr. Bonnie Henry characterized the cases as a “community outbreak” Fraser health said they are not identifying it as such.

However, in an email from the company’s marketing director, Karin Gardner identified a third COVID-19 case related to the cluster.

Gardner said one employee tested positive on May 12, followed by two others on May 14 and 15. 

“Two of the individuals are members of the same family and occasionally carpool to work with the third,” she wrote.

All employees who were in close proximity with the initial case left work immediately and continue to isolate at home, said Gardner.

Since then, the company’s warehouse and nearby work areas have been sanitized and an “essential staff warehouse team” is scheduled to return on Tuesday where it will be subject to stricter measures beyond the exposure control that has been implemented over the last eight weeks. 

“We’re carefully following guidance from health authorities and will continue to do so,” said executive vice president and chief operating officer Doug Grant in a written statement. 

“We are fortunate that all three of our colleagues are experiencing mild symptoms while recovering in isolation. As always, our priority remains on ensuring the health and safety of our team.”

The two cases are among 15 new cases identified across the province Friday, May 15, and mark the latest incursion of the virus into the region’s food supply chain.  

Only a day earlier, Coquitlam’s Superior Poultry Processors Ltd. — site of the largest outbreak at a food processing plant in B.C. — was re-opened after a major outbreak involving 61 individuals was declared over. Several workers, however, remain in isolation either sick with COVID-19 or waiting out the 14-day incubation period. 

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry as well as the Canadian Food and Inspection Agency have repeatedly stated that there is no evidence that of the transmission of the coronavirus can happen through such food stuffs as meat, poultry and fresh produce. 

Oppenheimer claims to be the oldest continuously operating company in British Columbia. As a produce distributor, it was first established in the 1850s by two brothers who moved to B.C. during the gold rush. 

Headquartered in Coquitlam, the company has offices across the Americas and says it has roughly 50 million boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables grown around the world move through its supply chain every year.

It also claims to have been the first to introduce the Granny Smith apple to the North American market, as well as the first kiwifruits to Canada.