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How can companies protect themselves against it? Trotec provides the answers: high-performance air purification protects against corona outbreaks in the meat industry<\/h2>\nHow can companies protect themselves against it? Trotec provides the answers: high-performance air purification protects against corona outbreaks in the meat industry<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
The meat industry is still in the line of fire! Employees tested positive for the coronavirus in three Austrian meat processing plants at the weekend. In addition to an abattoir in the district of Ried im Innkreis, which had a total of seven infected people (as of Monday, 6th <\/sup>July), there were also positive Covid-19 tests at a meat processing plant in the district of Wels-Land and at a meat processor in the district of Branau. Further test results are still pending, and the search for people who have been in contact with those affected is ongoing.<\/p>\n The T\u00f6nnies abattoir in Rheda-Wiedenbr\u00fcck<\/a><\/strong>, now closed, caused a great stir in Germany. More than 1,500 employees tested positive for the coronavirus there, prompting the authorities to impose a renewed lockdown for the entire G\u00fctersloh district. Immediately after T\u00f6nnies, meat producer Wiesenhof also reported cases in one of its operations, followed by doner producer \u00d6ztas from Moers, where more than 100 employees were also infected.<\/p>\n A working group in Germany consisting of employees from the State Centre for Health and the Robert Koch Institute is currently investigating why corona infection cases are increasing in meat processing companies and which technical solutions from Trotec<\/a><\/strong> should minimise the risk of infection in the meat industry as a whole. This investigation is led by Professor of Hygiene Martin Exner, Director of the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn.<\/p>\n What aerosol experts such as Dr. Thomas Voshaar (advisor to the German Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn) have been warning against for quite some time, was once again underlined by the investigation into the corona outbreak in the T\u00f6nniesmeat plant in G\u00fctersloh. Besides droplet and smear infection, the coronavirus primarily spreads via room air.<\/p>\n More precisely through aerosols, a mixture comprising gas (usually air) and solid or liquid constituents, which contain viruses in infected persons. These tiny suspended particles are released into the room during breathing and talking. While larger droplets fall to the floor after approx. 1.5 metres owing to their weight (hence the social distancing rule of 1.5 m), infectious aerosol particles sometimes remain suspended due to their small size (approx. 0.3-0.4 \u00b5m) for several hours in the room air inside the meat cutting area cooled to 6 – 10\u00b0C, where they are permanently circulated around the room by the ventilation system \u2013 and continuously breathed in! \u201cWhat is not known so far: Circulating air can keep an aerosol in motion, which is a previously overlooked risk factor,” said Prof. Exner in his analysis of the occurrence of infections at T\u00f6nnies.<\/p>\n This is due to the type of air conditioning customary in the industry. The room temperature in production areas is lowered and dehumidified, in order to keep the growth of microorganisms such as listeria and salmonella under control. However, very few companies have high-performance filtration<\/strong><\/a>, so infectious viruses spread throughout the entire production area. With the air purification technology<\/a><\/strong> developed by Trotec, this risk of infection should be reduced to almost zero in the future.<\/p>\nThe meat industry keeps getting hit again and again<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Previously overlooked risk factor in the meat industry: infectious aerosols<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Infectious aerosols are inhaled unnoticed<\/strong><\/h3>\n