Canada: Maple Leaf Foods to build new value-added poultry plant

Maple Leaf Foods, the Canadian meat firm, has announced plans to construct “one of the most technologically advanced poultry-processing plants in the world” in London, ON, Canada with a C$660 million ($500 million) investment.

Construction at the new 640,000 square feet facility is set to begin in the spring of 2019, with start-up planned to commence in the second quarter of 2021. As a result of the new plant being built, Maple Leaf Foods said it would shut its existing three “aging, sub-scale” Ontario factories by 2022.

Commenting on the investment, Maple Leaf Foods president and CEO Michael H McCain, said: “This world-class facility will enable Maple Leaf to meet the steadily growing consumer demand for premium, value-added poultry products, and strengthen Canada’s food system. It will incorporate leading edge food safety, environmental and animal care technologies that advance our vision to be the global leader in sustainable protein”.

“This is a historic investment in the Canadian poultry sector, providing significant stakeholder and economic benefits and ensuring that Canada has sufficient domestic processing capacity to meet forecasted poultry production and demand”.