Slaughterhouses and COVID-19
By Vegan Society Of Canada
Vegan Society of Canada News September 11th 2020
As we have written about in the past, conditions for those working in abattoirs are horrendous.
It was inconceivable to think this situation could become worse, however, that’s indeed what has happened with COVID-19, and the scientific community is in consensus that what was an appalling situation is now so much worse. Slaughterhouse workers are being exploited at unprecedented levels due to this pandemic.
Early in the spread of COVID-19, it was clear in many places throughout the world that slaughterhouses were a magnet for the spread of the virus. In May 2020, Bloomberg published an article showing that many of the communities that have a slaughterhouse in the vicinity were experiencing the spread of COVID-19 at twice the national average.
As time passed, it became evident that this was not limited to the U.S.A. As was reported, communities close to slaughterhouses across Canada were also experiencing much higher rates of COVID-19, as was Germany, France, Netherlands, England, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Poland, and pretty much everywhere else in the world where slaughterhouses exist.
Clearly the animal agriculture industry is not interested in publicizing these statistics.
To read the rest of the Slaughterhouses’ and COVID-19 article for why slaughterhouses are a magnet for the spread of the virus, click here.
Publisher’s Note 1: May 2021: It was just a matter of time… Fraser Health has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at a chicken slaughterhouse in Surrey, BC. Canada. 29 staff at Sunrise Poultry Processors Ltd. tested positive for the coronavirus. As a result, the slaughterhouse temporarily shut down. The chicken carcasses are not being recalled as a result of the outbreak. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been COVID-19 outbreaks at slaughterhouses across BC, including: Sofina Foods/Lilydale (Port Coquitlam), Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry (Chilliwack), United Poultry (Vancouver), Superior Poultry (Coquitlam), and now Sunrise Poultry (Surrey).
Publisher’s Note 2: July 2020: ‘There’s a direct relationship’: Brazil meat plants linked to spread of Covid-19. Brazilian meat plants helped spread Covid-19 in at least three different places across the country as the virus continues to migrate from big cities to the country’s vast interior, experts have said. In July 2020 the country was second only to the US with 1.88 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and 72,833 deaths. Brazilian JBS‘ – the world’s biggest meat processing plant – supply chain was hit particularly hard due to widespread slaughterhouse outbreaks, with one federal study highlighting a “direct relationship” between Covid-19 infections in the towns in central and southern Brazil where meat workers live and work. Read full Guardian Article here.
Publisher’s Note 3: The Human Rights Watch follow-up report on the exploitation of human animals in slaughterhouses is out. Read the Vegan Society of Canada article, Torment and Butchery or Torment in Butchery, for more information.
About Vegan Society of Canada:
Vegan Society of Canada is a registered non-profit corporation. Our mission can be explained in many pages or a few words: Reduce harm for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. Our main way to achieve this is to promote the adoption of a vegan lifestyle.
The promotion of a vegan lifestyle achieves our dual charitable purpose of protecting and maintaining both the public’s health and the environment. We do this through various means like public outreach, articles, information sessions, etc. As a member of the Vegan World Alliance (VWA) we adhere to the shared vision and mission of the VWA.
Please join us in our efforts to benefit all animals, including human animals, and the environment through a vegan lifestyle.
“What we eat is one of the easiest things that we can change. There’s no technological barrier, there’s no innovation, there’s no regulation or anything. It’s just that choice that we have to make.” — Sebastien Martel, Executive Director of non-profit Vegan Society of Canada.
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