Germany is set to increase the protections for meatpackers, banning the subcontracting of the work after a number of COVID-19 cases were reported in abattoir workers, labor minister Hubertus Heil said. The cases have caused outrage in the home countries of the sector's predominately foreign workers.

The new rules were agreed on Wednesday after more than 600 cases were reported of workers contracting the disease, according to government sources reported by Reuters.

The epidemic has thrown a spotlight on the German food industry's reliance on migrant labor, particularly from Romania. Anger at the deaths of two harvest workers from the coronavirus and mass infections led the Romanian labor minister travelling to Berlin to demand better conditions.

The new rules would require meatpackers in abattoirs to be employed by the company itself, ending the practice of hiring many of the sector's 200,000 workers through long chains of subcontracting agencies, which pushes down wages.

Heil said repeated attempts to improve conditions in the industry, which is one of Germany's most profitable sectors, had failed but this time the government would persist. Agriculture minister Julia Kloeckner said companies must take responsibility for their workers. "There are conditions in the meat industry that are not acceptable," she said.

Some in the industry fear that having to hire workers as staff will drive up their costs.

The state of Lower Saxony ordered that 10,000 abattoir workers at plants that used subcontracted employment be tested for COVID-19, after 92 tested positive at a plant in the town of Dissen.

The law will also allow workplace inspections and give local inspectors new powers to check workers' accommodation.

Representatives of the industry have argued that workers conditions are not to blame for the outbreak. The head of the German Association of the Meat Industry, Heike Harstick, questioned calls for more regulations, telling the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper "In our view, the working conditions are not primarily to blame for the coronavirus outbreaks."

She added that the spread could be due to meat processing factories not being required to shut down as they were classified as critical infrastructure.

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The problem is not confined to Germany. COVID-19 infections were also found at three slaughterhouses in France, prompting the government to plan tougher regulations, agriculture minister Didier Guillaume told France Info radio.

One of the abattoirs was ordered to shut for a week so staff can be tested. France is now considering testing all slaughterhouse workers, Guillaume said.

In the U.S., 22 meat packaging and processing factories were shut down due to rising cases of COVID-19. Workers, many of whom like in Germany are migrants, are more at risk to viruses as they work in close proximity to one another and in cold temperatures.

In April, the U.S.'s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on COVID-19 in meatworkers, concluding that "factors potentially affecting risk for infection include difficulties with workplace physical distancing and hygiene and crowded living and transportation conditions." 

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