New staff shortages are threatening British slaughterhouses and meat processing plants because of the coronavirus pandemic. Slaughterhouses may soon be forced to shut down production lines as more and more staff have to quarantine.
This applies as soon as the health ministry's Test and Trace app indicates that they have been in contact with an infected person.
According to Nick Allen, CEO of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), the situation is currently 'critical.' At some meat processors, more than ten percent of staff have to self-isolate due to app notifications, as in one week in England, half a million people have been 'pinged' by the app.
Meat processors were already facing staff shortages after Brexit because it became harder for EU citizens to work in the United Kingdom. But the recent increase in absences has worsened the problem, Allen told the BBC.
"We are seeing our production lines shrink. We already had an 11% staff shortage. If companies now lose another 10% of staff due to app pings, the critical threshold of 15% under-staffing will be exceeded," he said.
The British government has announced that starting August 16, people who are double vaccinated will be asked to take a COVID test instead of self-isolating.
Meat union chairman Allen called for more clarity about how long people must quarantine when they are pinged. He repeated the BMPA’s call to add butchers to the list of essential occupations, allowing the industry to temporarily fill vacancies with foreign (European) workers until the current crisis is over.
Some British meat processing companies recruited 80% of their staff from EU countries. The Brexit rules introduced earlier this year have led to recruitment problems in the processing sector, according to Mr. Allen.