LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WATE) — An employee at a Loudon County meat processing facility has tested positive for COVID-19. The county health department will test all employees for the novel coronavirus on Friday.

Wampler’s Farm Sausage, a meat processing plant in Lenoir City that specializes in pork products, released the following statement to WATE 6 On Your Side regarding its employee and its food production:

We learned today that we have one employee who has tested positive for COVID-19. The person is asymptomatic and was notified of the test results today. The employee will not be returning to work until cleared. We have notified all employees, and any employee who feels they are high risk has been allowed to go home.

Tomorrow (5/8), the Loudon County Health Dept. will be on-site at our farm to test all employees. We’ve implemented new break schedules to further distance our employees and will begin regular temperature checks as soon as the thermometers arrive. We’ve already been going to extra lengths to make sure our break rooms, offices, restroom facilities and other frequently touched areas are sanitized and will continue to do so. We’ve also made face masks mandatory. We operate under robust sanitation and personnel hygiene policies now and before COVID-19.

Each night, production areas and equipment undergo rigorous sanitation procedures, inspected and validated via microbiological testing before production begins each day. During production, our products undergo multiple hurdles to assure only wholesome pork products are received by our customers.

In other words, our food production areas were already sanitized daily. We will continue to make quality sausage and pork products to feed American families and support American farmers. These are challenging times, and businesses like ours are the backbone of America and crucial to our nation’s food supply.

WAMPLER’S FARM SAUSAGE