Europe’s Biggest Pork Exporter Reopens Plant Shuttered by Covid

Danish Crown, Europe’s biggest pork exporter, will reopen an abattoir in Denmark after an outbreak of Covid-19 among staff was brought under control.

The site in the Danish town of Ringsted will run at half capacity starting Aug. 21, the cooperative said in a statement late on Sunday. Other Danish Crown facilities will continue to make up for lost production until the abattoir can be brought back to full capacity.

Danish Crown shut down the plant a week ago after more than 140 of its 850 workers tested positive for the virus. That figure has since steadily fallen and the company said on Sunday it had registered about new 20 cases in the past week. Local authorities have allowed the reopening, pending the results of two sets of staff tests due over the coming days.

The outbreak at the plant, which normally processes about 62,000 pigs weekly, has led to a halt in exports to China.