Revised, Dec. 10 –– A fire that briefly halted production at the processing plant handling over 90 per cent of the turkeys raised in Alberta remains under investigation.
Edmonton-based meat processor Lilydale said Tuesday it expects “relatively minor” damage to its facility after a fire that morning in a shed housing compressors for its refrigeration units.
The plant specializes in “retail ready” tray-pack turkey products and whole-body turkey sales, both wet chill and air chill.
Production stopped Tuesday but resumed as of Thursday morning with “some constraints in capacity,” according to spokesperson Connie Smart. Shipping operations resumed Tuesday.
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Lilydale’s north Edmonton site on 127th Avenue, which also houses the company’s head offices, employs a total of 350 people, processing fresh and frozen turkey for the retail and food service market.
A Lilydale employee taken to hospital for smoke inhalation earlier Tuesday and was released “shortly thereafter,” the company said in its release Tuesday.
The company’s only other dedicated turkey processing facility is at Abbotsford, B.C. Lilydale also makes sausage and other products at a separate Edmonton facility, and runs chicken processing plants at Calgary, Wynyard, Sask. and Port Coquitlam, B.C.
