Abattoirs were forced to reduce to two-thirds of production last month to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
From Sunday, September 27, these facilities will now be able to return to 90 per cent production.
HW Greenham and Sons’ group general manager Tim Maguire said the changes to restrictions were a step in the right direction.
“It doesn’t impact on us at Tongala, we recently scaled back operations to match seasonal conditions and are at about 50 per cent capacity at the moment,” Mr Maguire said.
“We believe we operate safe workplaces and we're looking forward to having the rest of the restrictions removed and returning to a 100 per cent workforce in our Gippsland branch.”
Mr Maguire said it was a timely announcement with Christmas right around the corner.
“Coming into Christmas, people want lamb and ham on their tables, which is at risk,” he said.
“COVID-19 has changed demand patterns; there’s been a lot less eating out, so retail is a lot stronger, people are still buying the better cuts of meat and are cooking it at home.”
Benalla abattoir’s Colin Sinclair said the 5 km travel limit for Melbourne residents was putting a strain on demand for meat.
“One of the problems we have is the next step in the chain, when they’re only allowed to travel within 5 km in Melbourne — lots of the butchers we serve in Melbourne are having a hard time with it,” Mr Sinclair said.
He said regional abattoirs still had to adhere to coronavirus precautions.
“Everyone at work on-site has been COVID-19 tested and is temperature checked every day before we start work. We wear protective face masks like everyone else has to,” he said.
“We are fortunate we still have jobs in regional Victoria, compared to other people in other industries.”
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