• The approval given by the Spanish Department of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare turns Litera Meat into an exceptional case since it is the country’s first meat production plant to have its own laboratory authorised to do PCR tests to detect Coronavirus
Litera Meat, 1 October 2020
At the end of July, Litera Meat’s Sanitary Service was accredited by the General Directorate of Health Assistance of the Government of Aragón to widen its assistance offer, authorising the company’s internal laboratory to do diagnostic tests of COVID-19.
Litera Meat has an in-house laboratory, which has now been authorised by the General Directorate of Health Assistance of the Aragonese Government’s Health Department for the clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 using biochemical PCR techniques. The tests are done by accredited technicians and the results are communicated to the General Directorate of Public Health for validation. This licence enables Litera Meat to do periodical screenings to both its employees and new hires, increasing the level of control and prevention of the virus. Litera Meat has also reinforced control of SARS CoV-2 by performing tests on surfaces, tools, packing material and meat pieces, following the recommendations done by the Chinese authorities. Setting up this sanitary service confers Litera Meat exceptionality and adds value to its industrial activities within the sector, since it is the country’s only meat production plant to have done this big human and economical effort to have a fit-for-purpose laboratory of its own.
Carlos Gaspar, the Director of Litera Meat’s Quality, Food Safety and Environmental Issues Department, stated that “having our own lab speeds up the obtention of the results, since a diagnosis can be made 4 to 6 hours after the collection of the sample, which enables us to be more agile in taking decisions”. This authorisation, which has been both a challenge and an achievement for Litera Meat’s work team, is added to the implementation of the guidelines laid down by the WHO and the FAO regarding the control and prevention of COVID-19 and different extraordinary measures, like the periodical nebulisation of the entire facilities with a broad-spectrum disinfectant agent and the installation of HEPA filters in the different areas of the plant. This high-efficiency particulate air filters are used in the health sector (operating theatres and medical rooms), since they minimise the spreading of pathogenic agents during air recycling with an efficacy of 99.995%, ensuring a high level of protection against microorganisms which can be passed on through the air.
Comments are closed.