Positive cases of COVID-19 at 2 Sisters’ Coupar Angus plant have increased to 63, as cases in the local area continue to rise.
Dr Emma Fletcher, the director of public health for NHS Tayside, said the increase was expected, with many of the additional positive cases already self-isolating.
“The Incident Management Team (IMT) remains reassured that the factory can remain open at this time as we are in a very different position to when there were COVID-19 cases at the factory last August,” Fletcher added.
“2 Sisters have put in place a number of measures to reduce the risk of transmission within the factory. These have been reviewed regularly and assurance provided by the relevant regulatory authorities.”
The Scottish seafood sector hits ‘rock bottom’ as continued delays at the ports, technology failure and an increase in bureaucracy threaten to make British export undesirable to EU customers.
The biggest challenges the food industry currently faces from Brexit include delays caused by the impenetrability of paperwork , the shortage of vets and customs officials and dealing with the island of Ireland.
That s according to trade bodies responding to questions from MPs in the latest meeting of the parliamentary committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union.
Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food & Drink Federation (FDF), said the new era after the end of the Brexit transition period would entail a complete overhaul of the UK-EU supply chain. What s going to end up happening here is that unless the deal changes in some material way, we re going to see the reengineering of almost all the EU-UK and GB-NI supply chains over the next six to nine months.
Brexit chaos threatens NI trade and Scottish seafood Post-Brexit disruption over paperwork and procedure is hitting supplies to Northern Ireland as well as seafood exports, with the Scottish industry saying it faces a perfect storm that could cripple its international trade.
The Government’s
last-minute Brexit deal with the EU has left many businesses uncertain about the future of trade between the UK mainland and Northern Ireland (NI).
Uncertainty surrounding a potential no-deal Brexit over Christmas, as well as the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic has left some firms caught out by new customs regulations, explained Scala executive director David Howorth.
Trade bodies across the supply chain have urged the government to create a compensation scheme for losses incurred due to the French border closure.
Heads of food organisations – including the Food and Drink Federation, the Fresh Produce Consortium, the UK Food and Drink Exporters Association and the Chilled Food Association – have written an open letter to George Eustice, environment secretary, and Grant Shapps, transport secretary, calling for immediate action for businesses caught up in the blockade.
Calamitous decision
“The decision of the French authorities – to ban accompanied freight on 20 December 2020 – after the announcement by the UK government of the new strain of virus has caused a calamity for many food and drink businesses,” said the letter.