ABSTRACT: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has presented new challenges to food manufacturers . During the early phase of the pandemic, several large outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in food manufacturing plants resulting in deaths and economic loss, with approximately 15% of personnel diagnosed as asymptomatic for COVID-19 . Spread by asymptomatic and presymptomatic individuals has been implicated in large outbreaks of COVID-19 . In March 2020, we assisted in implementation of environmental monitoring programs for SARS-CoV-2 in zones 3 and 4 of 116 food production facilities . All participating facilities had already implemented measures to prevent symptomatic personnel from coming to work . During the study period, from 17 March to 3 September 2020 , 1.23% of the 22,643 environmental samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, suggesting that infected individuals were actively shedding virus . Virus contamination was commonly found on frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs, handles, table surfaces, and sanitizer dispensers . Most processing plants managed to control their environmental contamination when they became aware of the positive findings . Comparisons of positive test results for plant personnel and environmental surfaces in one plant revealed a close correlation . Our work illustrates that environmental monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 can be used as a surrogate for identifying the presence of asymptomatic and presymptomatic personnel in workplaces and may aid in controlling infection spread.