![“In the fields and in many food processing plants, labourers toil in close proximity, with no protective equipment,” a joint statement signed by 30 organisations said [SHUTTERSTOCK]](https://quota.media
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Mounting concerns for the health of workers in the agri-food sector have prompted stakeholders to call for stronger measures for their protection, according to EURACTIV.
On 16 April, thirty organisations co-signed a joint statement calling for urgent measures and structural reforms to address the impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic on EU agriculture and agri-food workers.
It called on the EU Commission to address as “a matter of urgency” the situation of agri-food workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the working and living conditions of many labourers along the food supply chain, and in particular in agriculture, are “generally sub-standard.”
Across the EU, there are some 4.7 million workers in the food sector.
