The Kagome facility will have 300 workers on site for two-and-a-half months from the first week of February until the start of April, making it one of the largest employers in the area.
An announcement on Tuesday relating to the change of “household contact” status for essential workers, including in the food processing and manufacturing space, is great news for the business.
It means that workers at Kagome will not be required to isolate for seven days if they test negative with a rapid antigen test on arrival to the site.
Mr Fritsch said the announcement meant that members of his workforce with COVID-positive close contacts, and not displaying symptoms, would be able to access rapid antigen tests prior to working.
A negative test would mean they could continue to work.
The site has introduced an absolute 100 per cent mask-wearing rule in the production centre, which Mr Fritsch said was one of the most important components in a COVID-safe environment.
“We have a very clear plan in place to manage our staff,” he said.
“Masks are the front line of defence in this scenario, then we have the RATs to provide confidence to employees and keep our people in the workplace.
“We understand there will be a high chance of someone testing positive during the process season.
“Our goal is to minimise the disruption to the business and cross-infection to staff.”
Mr Fritsch said if staff members were feeling ill they would be provided with the opportunity to take a rapid antigen test.
“If someone has a positive case in their household, we will provide them with a test for the next five days. They will be able to continue working as long as they provide a negative test,” he said.
With 300 people on site, Mr Fritsch said this could be a weekly, maybe twice weekly, even daily scenario.
“Hopefully it will settle down soon,” he said.
Kagome is expecting a late start to its tomato processing season, with unseasonal cold weather during October and November forcing a late start to the harvest.
The plant is on track for its volume, but Mr Fritsch said he had hoped to start processing a few days after Australia Day.
“Because of the cool October and November, we will be delaying it by a week or so,” he said.
“It may be good from a COVID point of view, but it means pushing back into April a bit more than we like.”
Kagome ordered 200 RATs in November last year, having identified that the testing equipment would be important to its operation.
“We’ve ordered another few hundred more and with this latest announcement we will order more,” Mr Fritsch said.
“It enabled our people to continue to come to work.
“This was our genuine fear that the COVID infection rates would escalate and the impact on staff.”
Dealing with perishable raw material that needs to be processed on time and providing the necessary workforce to process the fruit was always going to be a major challenge for the company.
“This decision to include our workers under the new conditions is a sensible measure,’’ Mr Fritsch said.
“I think it was heading in this direction, but the announcement was still very welcome.”
Mr Fritsch, along with Committee for Echuca Moama chief executive Deanne Armstrong and several other key players in the fruit and vegetable processing and manufacturing sector, formed a collective late last year.
That collective met with regional development officials and state government officials to push the case of having, as much as possible, an uninterrupted processing season.
“Governments are making decisions as things happen, so we appreciate the fact this decision has been delivered in a timely manner,” he said.
Mr Fritsch said while it was important to keep the business operational, RATs also allowed staff to have piece of mind.
“The goal of RATs is primarily to alleviate anxiety,” he said.
“If and when we do have positive cases, we will be able to monitor the health of those individuals in and around the infection.
“It will give them confidence in relation to their own health and also gives them confidence to continue to come to the workplace.
“We really do not want to see perfectly healthy people sitting at home.”
