UPDATED 4/24/20: RI Food Producer, Daniele, now has over 80 employees with COVID-19

Workers at Daniele, Inc., had the coronavirus. Daniele makes Italian cured meat products sold in supermarkets, grocers, delis and restaurants across the United States and exported to Canada, Mexico, China, Korea and other countries.

UPDATE: As of April 24th, more than 80 employees now have covid-19, located at 3 different facilities.

Here is their statement:

We are sad to report that 13 employees from our Mapleville facility have tested positive for COVID-19. The 13 employees, along with those who may have come in contact with them, are all on two weeks’ paid leave and self-quarantining at home.

We’ve worked closely with the Rhode Island Department of Health to track the cases and closely monitor their conditions. We are pleased that they all appear to be recovering well. The health of our employees and the safety of our products remain our top priorities.

As a food producer, we must already follow strict FDA and USDA sanitary guidelines year-round, including providing proper protective equipment for employees and conducting frequent sanitizing of all of our equipment. We continue to adhere to those strict guidelines during this pandemic.

In addition, we implemented a number of enhancements to protect our employees, including screening and temperature checks to enter the building, social distancing wherever practicable, expanded use of masks and face shields, continuous cleaning of all common areas, and extra hand sanitizers to the employees.

Immediately after learning of the first positive COVID-19 test, we halted production in the impacted area for 48 hours to allow for additional sanitization in that area of the facility. We remain confident that we have a safe working environment, but we understand there may be some employees who don’t want to work, and we’re accommodating those concerns. We want to encourage our workers, like all Rhode Islanders, to follow proper social distancing and good hygiene to keep everyone safe and healthy.

As we closely adhere to the strict guidelines enforced by the FDA, we can ensure the public that the safety of our products remain uncompromised. At Daniele, we remain focused on the health and safety of our employees, consumers, customers, and communities.

The federal government has deemed food industry workers as mission-critical personnel and part of the critical infrastructure, as we feed our country in this great time of need. This is a huge responsibility; we take it very seriously.