Under the programme all of Apetito’s manufacturing and distribution staff are tested every week, with results available in 30 minutes. The company now plans to extend the pilot across more sites in the UK.
Lee Shepard, director of corporate affairs and policy, said: “Apetito has a critical role in providing food during the Covid-19 pandemic. We serve some of the most vulnerable and ‘at risk’ in hospitals, care homes, nurseries, and schools.
“Ensuring our front-line services are able to continue to operate is therefore crucial - working to quickly implement a rapid testing programme across our manufacturing and distribution sites has built resilience into our business – as well as reassuring our staff and customers that we were doing everything possible to support their safety whilst at work.
“Having seen the benefits, we were keen to support the Government’s drive for food industry rapid testing – it’s crucial that we all work together to combat this virus and keep essential services running.”
The rapid testing scheme is built on procedures implemented by apetito including temperature checks, creation of work cohorts and one-way circuits.
Baroness Dido Harding, interim executive chair of the National Institute for Health Protection, added: “Around one in three people with Covid-19 do not display symptoms, meaning they can infect others unknowingly.
“This pilot is one of many which will inform our understanding of how rapid asymptomatic testing can be operationalised in the real world; to protect those at high risk, find the virus and help us go back to as normal a way of life as possible.”