Meat processor Olymel will expand its sausage production facility in Trois-Rivières and will shut down two other Quebec locations the company announced on Tuesday.
The $142 million upgrade of the La Fernandière site in Trois-Rivières will increase capacity to process more pork and poultry products. Products will also be fully processed and packaged on site.
Modernization of operations at the site will also allow Olymel to use the latest packaging technology and will improve ergonomics for workers, the company said.
Olymel will permanently close its Anjou and Cap-de-la-Madeleine facilities in spring of 2026. The 290 employees from those sites will be offered jobs in neighbouring Olymel plants, the company said.
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Olymel acquired the Trois-Rivières site in 2016 when it absorbed Quebec sausage maker La Fernandière. At the time it planned to invest $1.5 million in new equipment and to triple production at the plant.
Earlier this year, Olymel parent company Sollio Cooperative Group announced 2024 had been one its best years in decades after deep losses in 2022. In 2023, Olymel dialed back hog production in Alberta and Saskatchewan and shuttered several processing plants in Ontario and Quebec.
