May 12, 2010

Canada's Mitchells Gourmet Foods to reopen after 4-year closure

A pork packing plant in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, which shutdown nearly four years ago, will soon reopen after it has been purchased by Donald's Fine Foods and Britco Pork of British Columbia.

Senior vice president Tony Martinez says the company needs additional capacity while the current building needs millions of dollars worth of renovations before it can reopen. The company also needs to talk to the union that represented staff at the old plant.

If that happens on schedule, Martinez says the first hogs could trot through by late fall. It could mean 200 new jobs for the Saskatchewan city.

"It's been quite some time since slaughtering was done in Saskatchewan, so this is very, very encouraging," said Saskatchewan Pork Chairman Jay McGrath.

Saskatchewan hasn't had a hog processing plant since the closure of Mitchells Gourmet Foods plant in 2007. Producers have been forced to ship hogs to neighbouring provinces.

Mitchells Gourmet Foods plant has a processing capacity of about 5,000 hogs a week.