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(Updated with Harmony Beef, CFIA comments)

OTTAWA/WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 27 (Reuters) – Harmony Beef, an Alberta packing plant, halted cattle slaughter on Friday after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) kept some inspectors from work, due to a positive test for COVID-19 by a Harmony worker, the company said.

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The partial closure follows a positive COVID-19 test by a worker at U.S. chicken company Sanderson Farms Inc announced this week.

The spread of COVID-19 has led to consumer hoarding of staple groceries, making meat-processing more lucrative.

Alberta’s health department notified Harmony on Thursday that a worker who had not been on the job for days had tested positive, Harmony spokesman Crosbie Cotton said. The company then sent the other workers in his part of the slaughter area home for 14 days, even though they did not display symptoms.

In a statement, CFIA confirmed it did not provide inspection services on Friday after it learned that a Harmony employee had tested positive for COVID-19.