Covid-19: PepsiCo halts food production activities at plant in Beijing

PepsiCo China has suspended production activities at its food processing plant in the Daxing district, Beijing, after a Covid-19 case was confirmed at the facility.

Reuters reported that the company postponed production after the first case was confirmed on 15 June.

PepsiCo China corporate affairs director Fan Zhimin confirmed the news at a press conference without disclosing the number of cases that were detected.

The Beijing disease control authority official Pang Xinghuo said in the same press conference that eight people at the Daxing plant had tested positive.

After the information was released to the public, many Chinese consumers expressed their concerns about PepsiCo products over the internet.

PepsiCo company and snack brand Lay’s was quoted by the news agency as saying in a micro-blog that the affected food-processing plant in China was engaged in the production of a small quantity of potato chips and the chance of any virus surviving during food processing was very low.

In another development, China is said to have temporarily suspended imports of frozen chicken from Tyson Foods after the resurgence.

The announcement was made by China’s General Administration of Customs.

The move to suspend frozen chicken imports was taken by the officials after a virus outbreak was found at one of the company’s production facilities in the US.

Customs official said that the products that have already arrived in the country will be confiscated by the firm.

China’s customs authorities have been carrying out tests on all shipments of imported meat to check on the virus spread, including these products at domestic markets in major cities.