The Cargill plant north of High River is being shut down temporarily.

A statement from North America Lead Jon Nash says;

“Effective today, we have begun the process to temporarily idle Cargill’s High River facility. Considering the community-wide impacts of the virus, we encourage all employees to get tested for the COVID-19 virus as now advised by Alberta Health Services as soon as possible.

This was a difficult decision for our team who are operating an essential service and are committed to delivering food for local families, access to markets for ranchers, products for our customers’ shelves and jobs for local employees."

Employees have been offered up to 80 hours of paid leave for covid-related circumstances.

To prevent food waste, the plant will process about three million meals currently in the facility as quickly as possible.