From the Frontlines: Battling COVID-19
Suppliers from Nicaragua, Chile and Spain update their procedures and share their experiences.
Please share your experience with Dan Ochwat, executive editor, Store Brands, at [email protected].
Raquel Lopez, Castellon Coffee Group, Tamarac, Fla., and Nicaragua
“First and foremost, my complete admiration to all our heroes at retail and suppliers. Here in Nicaragua, this is just beginning, we have two cases reported with COVID-19. We are all in quarantine, I am writing this email from home. All our staff is doing the same, we only go out if necessary. Our staff in production have been implementing all the procedures established by the WHO. We plan on keeping a steady production and riding this crisis as well as possible.”
Lopez added that there is a huge amount of passion coming from everybody working at the company to produce its specialty coffee, which goes through a long journey from farming to roasting, brewing and approving product.
John Fell, food safety and QA manager, Comfrut, Santiago, Chile
“At present, no people working at our organization has been diagnosed with COVID-19. At present, 156 people have been confirmed with COVID-19 in Chile and four out of five are our capital region, far from the processing plants. Our processing plants are located in the countryside of small and medium-size towns located 300 and 400 Km south Santiago, the capital of Chile. Up to date, there is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 is transmitted by the consumption of foods. Food packaging also has not been associated with the transmission of this virus.”
He added that measures have been put in place including checking the body temperature of people entering the plant, more frequent cleaning in breakrooms, more sanitizer stations, testing of the water for washing hands, sending oldest workers home without salary deduction and more.
Francisco Javier Escalante, director general, Agolives, Seville, Spain
A table olive producer for more than 50 years, serving more than 60 countries, the company has instituted a lengthy list of measures to keep its thousands of farmers and employees safe, per Escalante. The measures are much the same with increased cleaning throughout from doro knobs to vending machines to bathrooms.
People are working in the same positions to avoid rotation and contacts, eliminating fingerpoint control at accesses, work-from-home for office staff, required distance to wait at entrances for social distancing, and removed stops on flour doors to allow them to be open and avoid them being handled.