Government must ease restrictions for food production workers, says industry
The chairman of leading UK food producer Finnebrogue Artisan has called on the government to relax self-isolation restrictions for workers in the food industry or risk “serious food shortages”.
According to Denis Lynn, forcing any one who lives with someone showing symptoms of coronavirus to self-isolate for 14 days could “wreak havoc on our capacity to make the food the country needs”.
Although he supports the guidance for most people, calling it “long overdue”, Lynn warned that the industry will face an “imminent labour shortage” unless some allowances are made.
He also called on hospitality workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the crisis to come to the aid of the food production industry:
“We will need you to plug the gaps that are already appearing on our production lines. We need you to help us feed the nation”, he said.
Finnebrogue Artisan employs around 640 people in County Down, Northern Ireland, turning over £115m a year.
Around 60 per cent of its workers are EU nationals, which can present its own problems, as it is common in the industry for such employees to live together in groups.
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Lynn also called on chancellor Rishi Sunak to announce a new set of economic measures to protect vital national services like the food industry.
Leading producers yesterday met with environment secretary George Eustice to discuss food supply.
After the meeting Eustice said: “The food industry is doing everything it can to rise to this challenge — and we will continue to work closely together over the coming days and months”.
However, concerns have been raised that without additional measures supply could soon become a problem.
According to the industry, the problem is less that people are stockpiling food, as has been well documented, but that people are now eating three meals a day from home every day.
A source in the sector said that “things could get ugly very quickly” unless the situation was resolved.