德肉联厂超千人感染！肉类加工场所会成为新冠病毒温床吗？

肉联厂又出事儿了。

17日，德国最大的肉类生产企业通内斯集团突然暴发聚集性感染，确诊人数已飙升至1553人，本该被隔离的数千名员工正在四处逃散，由于德国政府尚未采取强制措施，情况岌岌可危。

这已经不是德国的肉联厂第一次暴发疫情了，此前另外一家肉联厂也曾因有150多名员工检测出新冠阳性被迫关停。

一时间，关于肉联厂暴发疫情的消息引发强烈关注。

据农场动物投资风险与回报倡议组织（FAIRR）调查显示，在其纳入评估的全球60家大型肉类、鱼类和乳制品企业中，有44家企业在“工人安全与食品安全的新冠肺炎疫情大流行等级”中被列为“高风险”企业。

Within months of the first meat factory outbreak in the U.S., European meat processing plants have become hotspots for the coronavirus.

Recently, more than 1,500 employees at a meat processing plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany tested positive for the novel coronavirus. In the UK, the outbreak has emerged in at least three meat plants, which have closed after about 250 workers tested positive for the coronavirus.

从屠宰场到加工点，病毒可能存在于供应链的每个端口，传播正在悄无声息地进行着。

多个国家的肉制品加工厂接连“中招”，出现大量员工感染新冠病毒的情况。仅以美国为例，截至5月20日，已有216家肉制品加工厂出现疫情，近2万名肉厂员工确诊，超过70名肉类行业人员死亡。

这场波及全球的疫情冲击让食品加工企业遭受重创，如今聚集感染频发，包括史密斯菲尔德食品公司、JBS、和泰森食品公司在内的多家食品加工巨头陆续关闭了多家加工厂和屠宰场，何时复产还悬而未决。在肉类加工行业遭遇严重生存危机的当下，全球市场的肉类供应正被推向“危险的边缘”。

As the pandemic unfolds globally, similar incidents have occurred in slaughterhouses, processing facilities and fresh food markets across the world, including Ireland, Spain, Australia, China, Brazil and Canada.

员工感染率之高，影响范围之大，让人不禁担忧：

肉厂会成为新冠病毒的温床吗？

关于全球肉联厂集中“沦陷”的原因，各个国家均给出了解释，归结起来，主要与低温环境、高密度的工作条件以及工人作业条件恶劣有关。

Why do fresh meat factories frequently become hotspots for the coronavirus outbreak? Different countries gave various explanations, but in general, the reasons include high-density working conditions, poor employment contracts and cold temperatures.

 环境 

绝大多数专家对新冠病毒处于低温环境中能存活较长时间的说法观点一致，这也成为解释新冠疫情高发于肉联厂的重要原因之一。肉类加工厂往往处于低温且封闭的环境中，加上处理多种肉类制品增加了感染风险，这些因素都给新冠病毒的飞速传播提供了理想的生存环境。

Most experts agree that since the virus easily survives on cold surfaces, meat processing factories and slaughterhouses, with the absence of ventilation and sunlight, provide a perfect environment for the coronavirus to linger and spread. If one person gets infected with the coronavirus, the individual's virus-containing droplets will more likely stay viable and then spread among workers, they say.

人员 

由于工厂的工作环境往往比较拥挤，车间容易形成高密度的人群聚集，再加上肉类加工对体力消耗极大，使工人成为易感人群，一旦有人感染，不仅携带病毒的飞沫能够迅速在人际间传播，也会对加工的产品造成污染，进而形成人传染给食品，再借由食品传染给人的恶性循环。

For meat processing plants, workers working in the same plant have to process a lot of animal products that need to be dealt with urgently due to the quantity of animals being processed and the speed of production lines. They're required to work side by side, often shouting in each other's ears to be heard over the noise. For them, social distancing is impossible when production is running at full speed.

此外，一些国家则将原因指向劳工待遇。据外媒报道，德国多家肉联厂倾向雇佣来自中东欧国家的客籍劳工，他们不仅居住和劳动条件恶劣，而且无法获得任何保障。

但英国肉类加工者协会的专家则坚持认为，目前并没有科学证据表明肉联厂与其他速冻食品加工厂相比，在感染新冠病毒的风险系数上有所差别。

In Germany, many meat processing workers come from Eastern European countries, including Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, who speak little or no German and earn a pittance compared with their German colleagues. Many of these workers live together in close quarters and are often contracted by outside companies, which means they may not be protected by Germany's labor standards and wage regulations.

David Lindars from the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) insisted that there is no scientific proof to show that the working environment in meat factories facilitates coronavirus outbreaks and said a meat plant is no different from other chilled food factories.

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