COVID-19 Outbreaks Sweep Through Food Processors That Produce Oregon’s Potato Chips, Breadsticks and Beef Jerky

Oregon now has 60 workplaces where active COVID-19 outbreaks have sickened five or more people, state health officials disclosed in a weekly report. That's an increase from 48 on July 8. At least 15 of those outbreaks are in food processing plants.

In Umatilla County, the Eastern Oregon county that has become the state's viral epicenter, dozens of people have fallen ill while working at two prisons, two potato processing plants and a Walmart distribution center. Lamb Weston, the Hermiston company that packs frozen french fries, has 142 COVID cases.

Among the largest active outbreaks in the Portland metro area is an Amazon warehouse in Troutdale, where 24 people have fallen ill. The count at that location last week was 15 cases.

The report arrives on a day when Oregon reported another 282 cases and four deaths.

Businesses across Oregon have struggled to limit COVID spread in warehouses—especially food processors, which account for the largest share of active outbreaks. Those plants include Teeny Foods in Gresham (it makes breadsticks and has 27 cases), Shearer's Foods in Hermiston (potato chips, 21 cases), Old Trapper in Forest Grove (beef jerky, 19 cases), Mary's Harvest Fresh Foods in Portland (watermelon cubes, 15 cases). Kraft Heinz and Tofurky now have clusters of six and five cases, respectively.

The state's largest outbreak outside of the Oregon Department of Corrections remains Pacific Seafood in Newport, which packs frozen fish sticks and salmon lox.

Meanwhile, the state released new charts showing the steep rise in new infections among people in their 20s, who make up the plurality of new cases over the past two months.