The federal government has invested $16.9 million to improve worker safety and strengthen the food supply chain in B.C.
On Friday morning, Delta MP Carla Qualtrough, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion and Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai made the announcement on behalf of Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau, via a virtual Zoom presentation.
The funding will assist 117 food processing companies in the province.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on many challenges for the food processing industry,” said Qualtrough. “We are here to support our essential food workers, who continue to provide Canadians access to a secure food supply. Through the Emergency Processing Fund, we are giving businesses the support they need to keep their employees safe and our food systems running strong.”
According to the federal government, with this funding, recipients are adopting measures to help keep employees safe. This includes making adjustments to enable social distancing, purchasing reusable personal protective equipment (PPE), increasing cleaning, improving air circulation within their facilities and developing employee training. These improvements help producers and processors supply Canadians with the food they need during this unprecedented time.
The announcement was made alongside Earth's Own Food Company, a health food and beverage manufacturing company in Delta, which is receiving up to $2,638,210.
“This program has allowed us to rapidly adapt our new installation in real-time to respond to the elevated health needs and requirements of the COVID-19 world,” said Jeremy Switzer, plant manager at the Annacis Island plant. “Additionally, the program enabled us to significantly improve our sanitizing and temperature monitoring protocols and processes on-site to further support our robust COVID-19 mitigation strategies. This helped maintain continued good employee hygiene inside the facility and community health outside, and allowed for our continued, uninterrupted essential food operations to the B.C. and Canadian consumers.”
