China bans Australian meatworks at centre of Covid outbreak

[SYDNEY] China has temporarily banned meat from a South Australian meatworks, the latest in a string of import halts from Australia in two years as the authorities in Beijing increase scrutiny of overseas processing plants.

The suspension applies to Teys Australia's Naracoorte facility from Jan 29, said an official notice from China's General Administration of Customs. No specific reason was cited for the decision. Still, the ban follows a Covid outbreak at the processing plant which sparked controversy - workers there were told they should still come to work even if infected with the virus, unless their symptoms rendered them too unwell.

The company, which is part-owned by US agricultural giant Cargill, backed down from the mandate following a backlash.

"Teys will work closely with the Australian export market regulatory bodies to achieve reinstatement of the facility's access to China," a spokesperson for the company said in an e-mailed statement Monday, and confirmed that the specific facility sends about 5 per cent of its output to China.

The authorities in Beijing have increasingly cracked down on overseas food processors, amid reports of Covid-19 infections sweeping through frozen food facilities, particularly meatworks.

China has claimed that the virus can be transmitted via frozen food packaging, pointing to cold-chain foods as the reason for a flareup in Dalian as recently as November. Still, the World Health Organization says the chance of getting Covid-19 from frozen foods is very low.

Throughout 2020, China also criticized Australia for pursuing an international probe into the origins of the coronavirus, and cited that as reasoning for shutting down trade from a number of other meat processing plants Down Under.

BLOOMBERG