A number of staff have been sent home after a positive coronavirus test at a food production firm.

Staff at Premier Foods in Ashford will now have to self isolate after at least one colleague tested positive for Covid-19.

The company, which makes well-known food brands including Bisto and Lloyds Grossman, has a large Batchelors factory in Kennington Road.

The factory employs around 300 people, specialising in Paxo products.

A spokesman for Premier Foods said: “The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is our absolute priority, and we have and continue to do everything we can throughout the pandemic to protect our teams.

“Across our business and manufacturing sites, as you might expect, we are seeing some cases in line with local community and regional trends.

"Where a colleague tests positive, they immediately self-isolate, while any colleagues identified as a contact as per Public Health England definitions are sent home to self-isolate."

The firm would not comment on how many members of staff tested positive for the virus, nor how many are self-isolating.

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