Statement on Cargill’s Operations in High River attributable to Jon Nash, Cargill Protein – North America Lead 

“Effective today, we have begun the process to temporarily idle Cargill’s High River facility. Considering the community-wide impacts of the virus, we encourage all employees to get tested for the COVID-19 virus as now advised by Alberta Health Services as soon as possible. 

This was a difficult decision for our team who are operating an essential service and are committed to delivering food for local families, access to markets for ranchers, products for our customers’ shelves and jobs for local employees.  

We care deeply about our employees. They are everyday heroes of the food system and each person continues to be a valued member of our team. To prevent food waste, we will process approximately 3 million meals currently in our facility as quickly as possible. We greatly appreciate our employees who are working to complete this effort.   

Alberta Health Services has approved and supports all the protocols we have put in place. We have taken proactive steps to focus on safety. We have encouraged employees not to come to work if they are sick, offering up to 80 hours of paid leave for COVID-related circumstances. We also implemented additional safety measures like temperature testing, enhanced cleaning and sanitizing, face coverings, screening between employee stations, prohibiting visitors, adopting social distancing practices where possible and offering staggered breaks and shift flexibility. We began implementing safety measures in the first week of March. 

While this location is temporarily idled and we adapt to operating during a pandemic, our work doesn’t stop. Cargill provides an essential service to Canada -- producing food that nourishes people. We are working with farmers and ranchers, our customers and our employees to supply food in this time of crisis and keep markets moving.”