PepsiCo Wuhan reopens after shutdown during virus peak

Measures put in place to ensure employees go back to work safely

PepsiCo Wuhan reopened its production line on March 20 after being shut down for 58 days amid the containment of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The plant, located in Dongxihu district in Wuhan, was cleaned and disinfected before reopening, and all staff received temperature checks before entry.

The factory has provided shuttle bus service, implemented new safety measures in canteens and offered strict cleaning services to ensure production resumes safely.

At present, PepsiCo's largest production line of Lay's potato chips in the factory is reopened, with production capacity recovered to nearly 50 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the company.

"Employees are the most important assets of PepsiCo, and food safety is PepsiCo's lifeline. We put these two things in a critical position," said Liu Bin, director of PepsiCo Wuhan.

"We will work hard to maintain the business goals of the whole year made at first with our practical actions."

On March 6, PepsiCo announced a donation of 3 million yuan ($423,760) in support of China's fight against COVID-19, following its first donation made on Jan 27.

The donation was mainly used to support front-line workers and physicians who had been dispatched to Hubei province from other provinces.

The donation also went to hospitals in severely affected areas with insufficient funds to purchase necessary medical equipment to detect the virus.

PepsiCo's first donation of 5 million yuan was used to support disinfection in Wuhan, Xiangyang and Xiaogan, and provided meal subsidies for front-line staff in 19 medical institutions in the city of Huangshi in Hubei province.

To date, PepsiCo's financial donations to support China's fight against COVID-19 exceeds 8 million yuan, with various flagship brands under PepsiCo joining the fight.

Quaker Oats supplied 200,000 oat products to medics in Wuhan, and PepsiCo beverage system provided more than 190,000 bottles of water to hospitals and communities in eight Chinese provinces and municipalities.

"We will continue to support China to combat COVID-19, while we uphold PepsiCo's long-term pledge to be 'In China, For China, With China'," said Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo Greater China.

"We hope PepsiCo's new donation will further support hospitals to combat the virus and help the front-line medics and their families. Under the unified deployment and governance of the Chinese government, we will work with all sectors of society to make sustained contributions to the Chinese society."