Elsie Adamo
CHINA will no longer be accepting any meat from Teys Australia’s Naracoorte facility.
The ban follows national media coverage of the abattoir after it asked asymptomatic covid-positive staff to return to work.
The company confirmed that meat from the Naracoorte processing facility has been suspended from exporting products to China.
“Teys will work closely with the Australian export market regulatory bodies to achieve reinstatement of the facility’s access to China,” Teys general manager of corporate and Industry affairs John Langbridge said.
“Teys’ Naracoorte facility operates in full compliance with all State and Federal, food safety, occupational health and safety and market access regulations, and continues to operate as normal.”
Mr Langbridge said that stopping exports to China would not significantly impact the facility.
“The Naracoorte plant exported over the previous calendar year about five per cent of its production to China,” he said.
“The plant will continue to operate normally, there will be no decrease in through-put, the product will go to different markets.
“We are disappointed that the plant has had its access to China suspended but we will move on.”
It is the latest location to be added by China to their list of suspended meat processing facilities, which includes eight other Australian abattoirs.
Federal Member for Barker Tony Pasin said the ban would have a big impact on the industry.
“As an important export market for the Australian meat industry, the decision taken by China to suspend beef imports from the Teys Australia Naracoorte facility is extremely disappointing,” he said.
“The suspension is not only going to have impacts for employees at Teys Naracoorte, but this decision will also impact Australian beef producers.”
Mr Pasin said the blame for the ban lies with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
“While my colleague Dan Tehan, Trade Minister is continuing to work with Chinese authorities to have export licences reinstated as a priority, recent union activity surrounding the management of Covid cases at Teys has damaged the company’s standing domestically and internationally,” he said.
“As a result, the fall-out from this suspension can be attributed squarely to the ACTU’s alarmism.
“Put simply, any Teys employee, livestock producer, stock agent or truck driver who loses income as a result of this suspension has the ACTU to blame.
“Little wonder union membership in the meat industry is at historic lows.”
But ACTU President Michele O’Neil said the union was simply responding to legitimate concerns raised by workers.
“The situation was so dangerous that SafeWork SA refused to allow their inspectors to visit the facility,” Ms O’Neil said.
“These workers stood up and demanded to be safe in their workplaces.
“The agreement that was reached allowed workers to keep their jobs and business to remain functioning as usual – beneficial to both workers and Teys.
“Politicians taking potshots in the media in the aftermath is political point scoring at the expense of the communities they are meant to represent.”
