Closure of Olymel plant due to outbreak means backlog for Alberta pork producers - Action News
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Closure of Olymel plant due to outbreak means backlog for Alberta pork producers

The closure of the Olymelpork processing plant due to an outbreak of COVID-19 has left hog farmers scrambling to find somewhere to take their animals.

Facility kills up to 50,000 pigs each week and farmers are scrambling to find alternatives

People covered in plastic protective gloves and suits handle large slabs of meat on a table.
A production line at a Quebec-based Olymel facility is shown in this file photo from October 2020. The Red Deer, Alta., Olymel facility has been closed due to an outbreak of COVID-19. (Radio-Canada)

The closure of the Olymelpork processing plant due to an outbreak of COVID-19 has left hog farmers scrambling to find somewhere to take their animals.

"I am very concerned. We are lucky we have a few weeks, but I know farmers, they have to ship next week," saidArnold van Ginkel, a pork producer who ships about 140 pigs from his farm in Leslieville to the Olymel plant every week.

That's just a fraction of the plant's capacity.

According to Alberta Pork, 40,000 to 50,000pigsgo through the Red Deer facility each week.

Executive Director Darcy Fitzgerald says even a two week closure will create a significant backlog.

"If we look at coming back by at least March 1st we'll probably be about 130,000 pigs backlogged," he said.

Farmers will be looking at options that include finding spare room and feed orshipping the animals to Manitoba or tothe U.S. in order to avoid euthanizing them.

Fitzgerald says that adds costs to an already struggling industry, with most producers not turning a profit since 2015.

As of Tuesday, an outbreak at the Olymel Red Deer Food Processing Plant was linked to 343 cases, 200 of which were active.

One death, 35-year-old Darwin Doloque, has been linked to the outbreak.

Fitzgerald andvan Ginkel both say Olymel should wait until it's safe to re-open. There's still no word on when that could happen.

With files from Andrew Brown