One of Central Illinois’ largest hog processing plants, Rantoul Foods, has a confirmed 32 cases of Covid-19 since April 25, 2020.

We first reported this outbreak on Monday, May 4.

Today, the company issued the following statement:

RANTOUL, Ill. – Rantoul Foods has issued the following statement regarding its ongoing positive partnership with the local community and greater pork industry. 

“Our employees’ health and safety remain the top priority for our company. We take our responsibility in this regard very seriously and we continue to work diligently in partnership with the Champaign-Urbana Public Health Department to make necessary adjustments to protect our employees.

We are complying 100% with CDC and OSHA guidelines. Further steps we are taking include:  providing additional personal protective equipment (PPE) and more handwashing stations for all employees; communicating crucial information to our employees in multiple languages; increasing our already-rigorous sanitation procedures; increasing social distancing by adding common area space; and dramatically slowing production. 

We have implemented a mass thermal scanning system to check employees’ temperatures as they come to work and instruct employees not to report to work if they are sick or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms. COVID-19 testing for all Rantoul Foods employees has been prioritized by the Champaign County Health Department and is ongoing. 

Our on-site medical staff and the medical personnel at SafeWorks continue to assist our employees during this critical time. All employees have been offered the 14-day self-quarantine without question or penalty, and our benefits include free “Teledoc” for all employees.

Our company believes that the recent executive order will provide priority assistance in securing an ongoing supply of enhanced PPE and will continue to provide safety and assurance to our frontline workers, who are greatly appreciated. Without our dedicated employees we could not generate our 4.5 million servings of pork a day.”