File photo of a truck arriving at a Smithfield Foods pork plant at Smithfield, Va. on Oct. 17, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Tom Polansek)

Smithfield starting to reopen Sioux Falls hog plant, union says

Major plant was shuttered by COVID-19 outbreak

Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, resumed limited operations on Monday at a massive South Dakota slaughterhouse it closed last month because of the coronavirus pandemic, the union representing plant employees said. The closure of the plant and other slaughterhouses due to coronavirus cases among employees has led to temporary […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cargill’s High River plant reopens with two slaughter shifts

Cutting line to resume Wednesday

Cargill’s southern Alberta beef packing plant, estimated to be responsible for over a third of Canada’s beef processing capacity, restarted Monday after a two-week COVID-19-related shutdown — but at a quicker pace than previously expected. The company said in a statement Monday it is resuming operations at the High River plant “with two shifts” in […] Read more

(JBSsa.com)

COVID-19 surges at reopened JBS Colorado beef plant, union says

A sixth worker has died, UFCW local chief says

Chicago | Reuters — COVID-19 cases at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado have more than doubled “in a number of days” and a sixth employee died of the virus, a union official said on Thursday, underscoring the risks of U.S. meat plants reopening. The beef plant at Greeley, about 65 km north of Denver, […] Read more

Agropur’s Fromagerie Damafro, now slated to close in April next year, had been known as the developer of Quebec’s first-ever soft washed rind cheese, sold under the Saint-Damase brand. (OurCheeses.com)

Agropur to shut Monteregie fine cheese plant

A Quebec cheese plant formerly known as a top maker of Camembert- and Brie-type cheeses is set to shut permanently in April after five years under Agropur’s ownership. Quebec-based Agropur, North America’s biggest dairy co-operative, announced Friday it will start winding down operations at its Saint-Damase cheese plant in January ahead of the April 2019 […] Read more

(Lucyporc.com)

Olymel to pool Quebec hog processing partnerships

A pair of hog packing and processing plants in Quebec’s Mauricie region are set to join forces through their common business partner for a major expansion. Olymel, the meat packing and processing arm of Quebec’s Coop Federee, announced Tuesday it has sealed a partnership deal with livestock producer and processor Groupe Robitaille. That deal, first […] Read more


(Regis Lefebure photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Olymel plans major expansion for Quebec hog plant

The meat packing arm of Quebec’s La Coop federee has budgeted $25 million for a major expansion project at its hog slaughter and butchering plant at St-Esprit, Que. Olymel’s expansion plan, announced Tuesday, is expected to bring the plant’s floor space to over 215,000 square feet, up by about 35,000 square feet, and boost its […] Read more

(POM.ca)

Bimbo to shut Canada Bread’s North Bay plant

Canada Bread, the Canadian arm of Mexican baked-goods giant Grupo Bimbo, plans to close its bakery at North Bay, Ont. later this summer. The company announced Wednesday it will begin to gradually wind down operations, transfer the plant’s work to its other bakeries in Quebec and Ontario and shut down the bakery effective Aug. 5. […] Read more

Unionized staff spent eight weeks off the job this fall at Richardson Milling’s Martensville, Sask. oat plant. (UFCW.ca)

Richardson’s Sask. oat milling staff ratify deal

Unionized workers with Richardson International’s oat processing and grain milling plant at Martensville, Sask. are headed back to work after ratifying a new labour deal. About three dozen Richardson Milling employees, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1400, were locked out Sept. 10 after voting in late August to approve a […] Read more