Contingency plan required for Covid-19 infections in slaughterhouses
Against the background of slaughterhouse closures in the event of Covid-19 infections among employees, the Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner and the Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn propose that a project group be set up as soon as possible to develop a national emergency plan: "We need a national emergency plan for the future in the case of Covid-19 infections among employees of slaughterhouses and processing plants, with binding basic rules and retrievable information that can be used as a decision-making aid by the responsible local authorities if necessary," suggests Friedrich-Otto Ripke, President of the Central Association of the German Poultry Industry e . V. (ZDG) before. The decision to temporarily close slaughterhouses in the event of an increase in Covid 19 infections among employees is currently an individual decision by the districts with major consequences. And it poses major challenges for the individual authorities. "Complete closures of slaughterhouses and processing plants can lead to massive problems in food security and animal welfare - they must always remain an exception," adds Ripke. A uniform and appropriate assessment framework for the decisions of the responsible local authorities is needed as quickly as possible.
Health protection is important, but so are animal welfare and food security
"Protecting the health of people and employees in the region has top priority, but animal welfare and food security must not be underestimated or not rated at all when making decisions about the closure of slaughterhouses and processing plants," warns ZDG President Ripke. If slaughterhouses are closed, a cycle that is closely tailored to animal welfare is always interrupted. If the animals cannot be slaughtered due to a lack of alternatives, this leads to massive animal welfare problems and also presents the respective animal owners with some major challenges. An associated, unnecessary waste of food - for example due to the necessary culling of animal stocks - and possible supply bottlenecks in animal food can be the result. "The classification as a systemically important industry, which our slaughterhouses and processing plants have been explicitly given by politicians, applies to food security as well as to animal welfare - both represent high requirements and must not ultimately be reduced to absurdity by disproportionate closures," he said Ripke.
Database provides authorities with necessary facts as part of the emergency plan
A nationwide decision-making guideline, which must be the emergency plan, should be created on the basis of continuously updated data in a new database to be created. Important parameters here can be the performance of all German slaughterhouses for the relevant animal species, their location, the products manufactured and production requirements, as well as the reserve capacities of the slaughterhouses and processing companies, in order to be able to weigh up the extent to which slaughter quantities from one company can be taken over by other slaughterhouses if necessary . Here, in addition to the technical requirements, the possibilities and limits according to labor law and federal emission control law must also be taken into account. For the consideration of a complete closure of the slaughterhouse and processing plant, alternatively necessary requirements for health care must be defined. The possibilities of slaughterhouses to ensure a company-specific, controlled work quarantine as well as the extent of the prophylactic tests to be carried out by employees voluntarily must also be recorded. "Even if the local authorities naturally have to take other aspects into account, a nationwide emergency plan in combination with a database can accelerate and standardize official decisions and thus allow authorities and companies a certain amount of planning security," says ZDG- President Ripke out the opportunities for everyone involved.
The federal states, the German District Association, the Association of Cities and Towns, the Association of Towns and Municipalities and the industry associations concerned should be involved in a project group to be convened by the Federal Government to develop an emergency plan. A mandatory prerequisite for the development of corresponding binding rules is the participation of qualified virologists and environmental hygienists. In addition, the causes of Covid-19 transmissions in slaughterhouses and processing plants and their surroundings must be clarified by science. "We can only establish reliable defense and preventive measures for the future if the distribution paths are known for certain," concludes Ripke.
About the ZDG
The Central Association of the German poultry industry e. V. represents as a trade roof and top organization, the interests of the German poultry industry at national and EU level towards political, official and professional organizations, the public and abroad. The approximately 8.000 members are organized in federal and state associations.
