Concern is growing over the serial contamination observed in abattoirs and meat cutting workshops around the world. In France, three foci of Covid-19 infections have been identified since May 10 in Vendée (20 cases), in Côtes-d'Armor (69 cases) and Loiret (34 cases). Before that, the phenomenon had been described in the United States where it took catastrophic dimensions: almost half of the clusters of coronaviruses are linked there to meat processing plants. Canada and Germany are also hit hard.
Read also: Coronavirus in slaughterhouses: is it risky to eat meat?
The reasons why this industry concentrates a high risk of spread are still unclear. But a point is established, assures Gilles Salvat, deputy director general of the National Health Security Agency (ANSES): "The virus is introduced by a contaminated person, not by an animal. All experiments on animals intended for consumption indeed show that they are not sensitive to
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