October 6, 2008

Petit Jean poultry plan to close after Tyson Foods official's notification of non-renewable contract.

About 465 people are losing their jobs at a rural Missouri poultry processing plant.

The Petit Jean plant in Buffalo, Missouri, is shutting down on Friday, 10 October 2008. The closing comes after Tyson Foods officials notified the chicken processing plant in August that it would not renew its contract.

Plant manager Frank Sanderson says most of the employees have already been looking for other jobs, while he has been unsuccessfully looking for ways to keep the plant open. So far, there are no buyers or new contractors.

Sanderson says most of the plant's employees are from Dallas County. But some commute from neighboring areas such as Hickory, Polk, Laclede and Greene counties.