However, Wodonga's abattoir and Howlong pet food maker, the Staughton Group, have not ruled out introducing the measure if circumstances warrant it.

SPC announced on Thursday it would require all staff to be fully vaccinated by November 30 to gain entry to any company site, such as its Shepparton fruit and vegetable processing plant.

Staff will get paid time off to cover their vaccines and are expected to have a first scheduled by September 15 and administered by October 31.

Food firms on the Border responded with mixed views, with Wodonga's pet tucker factory not looking to mimic SPC's approach.

"We encourage associates to get vaccinated as soon as it is available to them to prevent the spread of COVID-19," a Mars Petcare spokesperson said.

"At present, we do not plan to require vaccination for our associates."

Nestle Oceania head of corporate and external relations Margaret Stuart said at this stage her company would not make COVID cover mandatory at its Wahgunyah Uncle Tobys plant.

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"We're not clear whether we have any legal capacity to do that, but we'll certainly watch with interest," she said.

Online sessions, involving doctors advising Uncle Tobys staff of the benefits of coronavirus, have been held.

Wodonga abattoir director Matthew McPhee said compulsory staff vaccination is something that would be considered, pending the ongoing rate of immunisation.

"We've seen a good uptake of over 20 per cent so far and we're assisting people with where to go with HR," he said.

Staughton Group managing director Edward Staughton said of mandatory vaccination, "it's something we would certainly explore, we're doing it through positive influence to date".

"We're looking a programs of additional time-off for vaccination and are asking anyone that gets vaccinated to post it to an internal Facebook page to get some positive feedback with comments and likes," he said.

Mr Staughton said COVID protection was "absolutely critical for our business", noting a case in Sydney recently had shut a client's property for a week while a deep clean occurred.

"We're looking at setting some targets as a company and potentially having some rewards if we can achieve some sort of vaccination level," he said.

Other big Border food firms, Vitasoy and Rivalea, did not respond to The Border Mail when asked if they would make vaccination mandatory.