“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on many challenges for the food processing industry, in particular for meat processing plants of all sizes,” Bibeau stated. “The hard-working women and men in this industry continue to step up to ensure Canadians have high-quality food on their plates. Through the Emergency Processing Fund, we are giving businesses the support they need to keep their employees safe and our food systems running strong.”
Recipients are using this funding to make adjustments to enable social distancing, purchase reuseable personal protective equipment (PPE), install protective barriers, improve sanitation and develop training for employees. These changes are also helping the food plants avoid production bottlenecks and safely keep up with Canadian consumer demand.
“Our Prairie meat businesses have shown incredible resilience throughout this time of crisis,” Carr added. “The investments announced today are helping many local businesses adapt their operations to help protect the health and safety of their employees which will allow them to continue supplying good food for Canadians.”
The announcement was made alongside two of the 24 recipients:
- Winkler Meats Ltd., a federally inspected abattoir and processing plant in Manitoba, which is receiving up to $1,447,693; and,
- Viva Deli, a meat processing and retail operation in Alberta, which is receiving up to $70,184.
“We applaud the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food’s efforts and support for the meat processing industry,” said Dickson Gould, President, Winkler Meats Ltd. “The funding will help us continue, to keep our employees safe with increased social distancing and make our plant resilient in supplying Valley Lea Farms Fresh Pork and Winkler’s line of Sausage products to Canadians.”
The Government of Canada will continue working with food processors to protect the health and well-being of workers in food processing plants across Canada and strengthen our food supply chain.
“We are very grateful for support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada during this pandemic,” Inessa and Vitali Kojlo, Owners, Viva Deli also said. “As we are a new food manufacturing company, the funding has helped us to accommodate all the regulations that were put in place during COVID-19. We were able to keep operating our facility, keep a safe environment for our staff by separating our employees, improving our air quality and being compliant with local/provincial regulations.”
The Emergency Processing Fund (EPF) is a one-time, federal investment to help companies implement changes to safeguard the health and safety of workers and their families due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fund also supports facility upgrades to help strengthen Canada’s food supply.
