OAKLAND, CALIF. —California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Foster Farms with two fines totaling $181,500 at its Livingston, Calif., poultry processing plant and distribution center. 

The report and fines came after a COVID-19 outbreak that forced Foster Farms to close its doors for a week during 2020. 

At the time, Foster Farms said it conducted more than 4,800 COVID-19 tests of the Livingston complex workforce with less than 1% of the results coming back positive. Any employees that tested positive were asked to self-isolate.

“Cal/OSHA opened its inspection after receiving notification that an employee had died from COVID-19 complications, and subsequently determined that Foster Farms and one of its staffing agencies did not report the COVID-19 fatality in the time required,” the agency said in a statement. 

Foster Farms had no comment on the latest news from Cal/OSHA.

Four staffing agencies that helped hire workers for Foster Farms also were fined including: Human Bees Inc. ($41,000), Marcos Renteria Ag Services Inc. ($36,000), Intermountain Employment Services, DBA Ascend Staffing ($18,000) and Staffing Solutions Inc. ($16,200).