Sun-Maid raisins employee who worked this past weekend tests positive for coronavirus

An employee at Sun-Maid has been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, the raisin cooperative confirmed Thursday.

Harry Overly, president and chief executive officer of Sun-Maid, said the infected employee was a machine operator and general laborer at the company’s plant in Kingsburg.

His last day of work was Saturday. The company was notified by his family Thursday morning that the employee was hospitalized and tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Overly said.

“We heard earlier today (Thursday) at about 4 p.m. that the employee was doing a little bit better, but he was still having trouble breathing,” Overly said.

Once the company became aware the employee tested positive, it identified about a dozen of his co-workers who potentially were exposed. All are under home quarantine. Sun-Maid also cleaned and sanitized the area where the employee worked.

Sun-Maid employs about 600 people at its processing plant. Company officials met with all workers there in small groups to let them know what was happening.

Food safety

In a statement, the company said it does not believe its products were contaminated. Citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Sun-Maid said, “The CDC and the USDA state that there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 as a foodborne pathogen, and the FDA is not aware of any reports of transmission through food or food packaging.”

Overly said the company has been practicing safety protocols for several weeks after it became clear the pandemic was spreading.

“We have been working through all our contingency scenarios because it was never a question of if, but when,” Overly said.

Along with making sure employees were following social distancing and other health precautions, the company provided hand sanitizer that it made at its distillery.

The company will also begin checking employees’ temperatures before they start work.

“We are taking all the precautions that we can,” Overly said.

Demand for raisins high

Some employees have been working double shifts lately with the demand for raisins currently high, Overly added.

The entire plant was undergoing a regularly scheduled cleaning and sanitization Thursday evening and was scheduled to reopen Monday. (Workers were given Friday and Easter weekend off prior to the Sun-Maid employee testing positive.)

“We are committed to the safety and health of our employees who are working very hard to keep up with demand,” Sun-Maid said in a statement. “Sun-Maid continues to follow all CDC guidelines in order to mitigate risk and limit potential exposure to COVID-19.”

Sun-Maid said the company has emphasized employees sanitizing regularly and practice social distancing.

Among the steps they’ve been practicing:

▪ Encouraging any employee who is not feeling well to stay home

▪ Reinforcing hand washing procedures and increased hand sanitization stations

▪ Providing social distancing guidelines on the production lines

▪ Screening employees’ temperature as they enter work each day

▪ Altering the entrance and exit points and ceasing use of all hand clocks in the plant

▪ Obtaining additional personal-protection equipment in the form of surgical masks for employees to wear at work

“As an essential business ... Sun-Maid is committed to the safety of our employees, while delivering safe, better-for-you snacks that meet all food safety and regulatory requirements,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue our production operations on Monday after the Easter weekend.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 7:39 PM.