Leprino Foods is one of the largest cheese manufacturing facilities in the world and has two major cheese-making facilities in Lemoore. The Leprino West plant is the company’s largest mozzarella-making facility. A Leprino spokesperson confirmed that the employee would remain out of work until it is safe for him to return.

“We can confirm that one of our employees at Lemoore West Plant tested positive for COVID-19,” said Leprino Spokesperson Kimberly DeVigil. “This employee will remain out of work for the suggested time period. In addition to rigorous cleaning and safety protocols we put in place in March, we have thoroughly cleaned and disinfected the areas where the employee works.”

Leprino, due to the nature of its business, has always implemented a “robust” cleaning process and confirmed that since March, the company had enhanced the cleaning process with more frequent cleaning of all areas of the plant, from break rooms to cafeterias and locker room facilities.

Employees are also required to wear masks and take temperatures daily.

DeVigil confirmed that employees who may have worked near this person were approached individually and instructed to take additional precautions, such as monitoring their symptoms.

DeVigil told The Leader that Leprino Foods, especially in Lemoore, where approximately 1,300 employees work at the two facilities, will continue to operate as normally as possible. However, plant officials say they have put “aggressive” protocols and cleaning procedures into place to minimize risks, as well as increase sanitation and social distancing.

Leprino Foods, at all their plants for the past two months, have required daily temperature checks and necessary visitor and employee health questionnaires. The company has also restricted visitors, adjusted attendance guidelines to encourage sick employees to stay home, and implemented supplemental pay offerings for employees required to be off work due to COVID-19.

The plants have also instituted an employee exposure risk assessment process (contact tracing), wellbeing checks, and increased daily sanitation of common areas and surfaces.

“We’ve implemented additional rigorous measures to increase social distancing, such as placing marks on the ground to identify how far employees should be apart, implementing locker room protocols to allow spacing, staggering shifts, and providing N95 and surgical masks,” said DeVigil.

Leprino is one of Kings County’s largest employers. Construction began on the Leprino West plant in 2000, and it opened in January 2003. Leprino Foods purchased the Lemoore East facility from Knudsen in October 1986.

Leprino is not the only large facility to experience coronavirus cases. Nearly 140 employees of the Central Valley meat Company in Hanford have tested positive for COVID-19. The company’s employees account for a hefty share of the total number of Kings County coronavirus cases.

As of Sunday, May 10, the Kings County Department of Public Health reported a total of 287 COVID-199 cases and just one death. At least 158 of those cases were from close contact.

Leprino employs 4,000 people worldwide. Locations include nine full-scale manufacturing plants in the U.S., a pair of global joint ventures, and sales offices in Asia.

One of its Colorado plants, in Ft. Morgan, recently experienced a coronavirus outbreak, forcing the plant to close while the facility tested all its employees and disinfected the entire plant.

According to DeVigil, Fort Morgan reopened Sunday, May 3, and it will be a phased approach that will “continue to take into account our employees’ health and safety and our ability to increase production capacity based on workforce availability.”