December 27, 2022

New further poultry processing plant opened in northeast Georgia, US

Hodie Meats announced on December 19 that it opened a new further poultry processing facility in northeast Georgia, the United States.

The company said its operations would be led by Ben Garcia, vice president of processing, and Amy Ward, vice president of sales.

"Our leadership team has come together to service a huge demand in the US supply chain from food service companies, retailers and processors for quality custom-cut chicken portions," Garcia said. "As big believers in American ingenuity, we are especially proud to have created a 100% US-owned manufacturing operation."

Hodie Meats said the new plant is a USDA-inspected facility that works with processed chicken from area integrators. It will offer portion cutting and co-packing customised to each customer's specifications.

The plant features a variety of further-processing resources, including hand-portioning of fillets, tenders, strips, diced meats and nuggets to deboning dark and white meat.

"From X-ray systems to metal detection, our facility has installed nothing less than the industry's most advanced processing equipment technology," Ward said. "This will give us the opportunity to have the best quality on the market."

The facility was renovated and repurposed after serving as Mount Vernon Mill. The company noted that there's plenty of room for expansion with Hodie's processing operation occupying less than a quarter of the 200,000-square-foot building. 

"The letters in our company name stand for "Humility, Ownership, Discipline, Integrity and Excellence," representing values that we intend to exhibit throughout our customer relationships, community involvement and support of the state's poultry industry," Garcia said. "We will continue the strong legacy of Georgia's poultry industry through our investment in the lives of our employees and the families throughout our region."

- Meat + Poultry