September 14, 2006

Perdue Farms to close operations of chicken plant

A Perdue Farms plant that employs 37 workers to process chicken in Fayetteville would be closed so its production can be shifted to a larger plant in Bertie County, the company said Wednesday (Sep 13). 

The local plant would close at the end of September and its employees would be offered transfers to another plant some 150 miles away, said Perdue spokeswoman Julie DeYoung.

Both plants separate chicken parts mechanically. The Bertie plant can also de-bone the birds. Until now, de-boned chickens had been shipped to Fayetteville for separating.

Perdue has three major plants in North Carolina. It employs 4,200 workers in the state and 21,000 nationally.