processing Archives | Country Guide

Pork packer considering Moose Jaw’s ex-beef plant

Donald's Fine Foods announces 'feasibility study'

By Dave Bedard June 3, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes A potential buyer’s study could soon show whether a former beef packing plant in southern Saskatchewan has the bones to support a pork processing operation for cull sows. Richmond, B.C.-based Donald’s Fine Foods, which since 2010 has operated the Thunder Creek Pork hog plant at Moose Jaw, announced last week it plans to run a […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock, Reuters

Tyson to shut Iowa pork plant against COVID-19 outbreak

Plant handles up to 3.5 per cent of U.S. pork output

By Tom Polansek May 29, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Tyson Foods said on Thursday it will temporarily close an Iowa pork plant due to the coronavirus pandemic, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered slaughterhouses to stay open to protect the country’s food supply. Meat processors such as Tyson, WH Group’s Smithfield Foods and JBS USA temporarily closed about […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Markets, Reuters

More Mexican beef headed to U.S. dinner tables as supply crunch bites

"I think we're going to leap past Canada this year"

By David Alire Garcia, P.J. Huffstutter May 14, 2020

Reading Time: 3 minutes Mexico City/Chicago | Reuters — More Mexican steaks and other beef cuts are headed north of the border after the coronavirus outbreak has hobbled U.S. meat processing plants, potentially offsetting fears of shortages affecting businesses from fast-food chains to grocery stores but angering U.S. ranchers. The Mexican industry chalks up the export growth to new […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock, Markets

Major Ontario pork packer expects to re-open Monday

Conestoga Meats went offline April 27

By Dave Bedard April 30, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes The hog slaughter and processing plant billed as Ontario’s second-biggest pork producer expects to be back in business Monday after a week-long COVID-19-related shutdown. Conestoga Meats, based at Breslau, just east of Kitchener, notified hog farmers and shippers on Friday that it would suspend “most operations” during the week of April 27 to May 1, […] Read more

Crops, Markets, Peas

Pulse weekly outlook: Manitoba pea plant construction continues

By Glen Hallick - MarketsFarm April 24, 2020

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Work continues on Roquette’s pea processing plant at Portage la Prairie, Man., where the French plant-protein firm says measures have been taken to meet health and safety regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. “Beginning in early March we proactively started collaborating with contractors on COVID-19 prevention measures, such as increased cleaning of communal spaces […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Markets, Reuters

Cargill to temporarily idle High River beef plant

Packing plant hit by COVID-19 outbreak; another 67 cases linked to JBS plant

By Kelsey Johnson April 20, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Cargill Ltd. said Monday it had begun the process of temporarily idling its beef plant at High River, Alta. because of the COVID-19 outbreak as provincial health officials said hundreds of workers at the plant had become infected. In her daily media update, Alberta chief medical officer Deena Hinshaw said a total of […] Read more

General

CFIA funded to build up inspection corps against COVID-19

Short spells of disruptions still to be expected at food plants

By D.C. Fraser April 18, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is spending $20 million to hire, train and equip additional staff members to limit disruptions resulting from COVID-19. With meat packers and food processing plants considering extended hours as they adjust to taking extra measures to combat the pandemic, CFIA was in need of a response to […] Read more

Livestock, Reuters

‘Elbow to elbow:’ North America’s meat plant workers fall ill, walk off jobs

Supply chains struggling to keep pace with surging demand

By Rod Nickel, Tom Polansek April 14, 2020

Reading Time: 4 minutes Chicago/Winnipeg | Reuters — At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 U.S. cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a meat inspector. In Colorado, nearly a third of the workers at a JBS USA beef plant stayed […] Read more

Hogs, Livestock, Markets, Reuters

Smithfield shutting South Dakota pork plant indefinitely

Major packer warns of meat shortages during pandemic

By Tom Polansek April 12, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers. Slaughterhouse shutdowns are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, crimping […] Read more

Livestock, Poultry/Eggs

Maple Leaf poultry plant shuts for ‘deep cleaning’

COVID-19 found in three workers at Brampton facility

By GFM Staff April 8, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes One of two Maple Leaf Foods plants at Brampton, Ont. has gone into shutdown mode for “deep cleaning” in the wake of three cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus among its workers. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Wednesday that operations at the company’s Kennedy Road poultry slaughter and packing plant in Brampton are suspended “while we complete […] Read more

ICE weekly outlook: Canola stronger after Canada Day

Ontario investigating 17 temp agencies after virus outbreaks on farms

U.S. grains: Corn pauses after fund buying spree, watches weather

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