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Eighteen workers at a Bernard Matthews turkey plant tested positive for coronavirus.
Staff members are self-isolating and approximately 100 other workers at the Suffolk site have been screened, with most testing negative.
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Food production has not been affected by the outbreak, which is ahead of the busy Christmas season.
The processing facility, which is located in Holton, near Halesworth, has had controls since March to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, including regular temperature checks, staff working in bubbles, COVID-19 quarterbacks, masks and visors and social distancing.
Most of those who tested positive live in the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft areas and the cases are believed to have originated in the community, Bernard Matthews said.
Suffolk County Council, Public Health England and Bernard Matthews are now trying to handle the situation.
Stuart Keeble, Suffolk’s director of public health, said: “I would like to assure people that at this stage this is a relatively small number of cases and that the situation is being handled very carefully by all partners who work in close collaboration. “
The outbreak has not affected food production
A spokesperson for Bernard Matthews said: “We are grateful for the help of all local agencies and we fully support their goals of protecting the local community.
“We believe this small number of cases started in the community, but we will nonetheless continue to apply our robust COVID measures as we enter our busiest time of the year.”
