Action on Allen Harim Foods’ plans to use a portion of its building in Millsboro, Delaware, as a chicken deboning facility have again been delayed by the Sussex County Board of Adjustment.
At its meeting on April 16, the board voted 3-0 to table acting on Allen Harim’s special use exception permit, in which the company wants to convert 50,000 square feet of the 453,000 square-foot building into a deboning operation, reported the Cape Gazette.
The board had earlier in March tabled acting on the application. It is expected to revisit the issue at its May 7 meeting.
The board decided to not act on the matter, because not all board members were present.
Allen Harim revealed plans in December 2017 to repurpose the building, which was once a Vlasic pickle plant owned by Pinnacle Foods. The company stated that it wanted to move the company’s present headquarters from its present location in Seaford, Delaware, into the building in Millsboro. Allen Harim also wanted to use 50,000 square feet of the building as a deboning facility, where chicken processed at its plant in Harbeson, Delaware, would be deboned and repackaged for customers.
Other uses of the Millsboro building will include a consignment warehouse operation that will store boxes and other packaging materials from International Paper and other vendors that are used in the Allen Harim production process.
Allen Harim purchased the facility in 2014 with the intent to use it as a plant to process a breed of chicken for use in a ginseng stew, but those plans did not materialize, and the facility has since primarily used the building as a storage facility.
Allen Harim hopes the office space portion of the building will be ready for occupancy by the first quarter of 2019.
Allen Harim Foods is the 20th largest broiler company in the United States. According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, it slaughtered 1.67 million chickens on a weekly basis in 2017. Company brands are Allen Harim, Nature's Sensation, Oasis All Natural Chicken and private label.
