Cargill to build R&D centre for meat

Cargill Inc. reported that its meat processing business, which is the largest beef and fourth-largest pork processor in the US, plans to build a meat research and development facility in Wichita, Kansas.

The facility, estimated to cost US$14.7 million and to be named the "Cargill Innovation Center," will be a 75,000-square-feet, two-story complex with culinary and laboratory capabilities and a pilot plant. Construction is scheduled to begin in July and be completed in June next year.

The centre is to replace an older one in Wichita that Cargill acquired in 1978 when it became a meat processor, was once a meat processing plant and was recently sold. The meat business is headquartered in Wichita.

The announcement said the research and development laboratories will focus on food safety, and the culinary kitchens will focus on creating new products and on how products can be used by foodservice and retail customers, according to the company.

The pilot plant will allow operational and technical teams to develop products and evaluate new technologies that can potentially be employed at the company's commercial meat plants throughout the US and Canada, the company said.

Additionally, the project will include a distribution centre that will serve small grocery stores in the local area.