August 6, 2010

High meat demands push investments by Vion

 

Growing demand for meat with a clear provenance was one driver behind a multi-million pound investment programme by Vion to expand its processing operations in Scotland and create 250 new jobs.

The company said significant investment at its Coupar Angus chicken processing plant has seen the creation of five new packing lines-enabling it to offer complete country of origin assurances, as the birds would now be hatched, reared and processed in Scotland, with the birds grown with feed from Vion's own Scottish mill.

The initiative also includes a new chill chain and portion cutting facilities-where previously the plant dealt mainly with whole birds, communications controller Robert Smith said.

The meat giant also announced that an extra 100 jobs had been created at the Added Value plant at Cambuslang-which had grown its business by 25% in 2010. In addition, 234 jobs at the site had been safeguarded with the help of a Scottish Enterprise Regional Selective Assistance grant of GBP650,000.

Smith said the cash injection into its Scottish plants was part of a widespread investment programme into it UK processing operations-but declined to provide exact figures.