Tyson to upgrade Mississippi further processing plant

Tyson Foods officials have planned a $20 million upgrade to its further processing plant in Warren County, Mississippi.

(National Chicken Council)
(National Chicken Council)

Tyson Foods officials have planned a $20 million upgrade to its further processing plant in Warren County, Mississippi.

Company officials recently met with the Warren County Board of Supervisors to outline the plans for the plant that produces further-processed poultry products and discuss Tyson’s application for a tax exemption, reported the Vicksburg Post.

Tyson Foods representative Charlie Terrell told the supervisors it is modernizing the technologies involving heating water for processing operations and upgrading its pollution control systems.

“We also have a big project planned in 2019, and we’re going to be modernizing two lines and add more capacity of chicken we can do, and we’re adding some spiral freezers and our fryer line,” Terrell said, adding that value-added products such as chicken tenders and chicken wings are processed at the facility.

Tyson Foods presently employs about 550 people in the plant, which is located at the Ceres Industrial Park. Tyson Foods purchased the facility in 1991.

Tyson Foods, headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, is the largest broiler company in the United States and the sixth largest turkey company in the nation. According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, Tyson Foods processed 174.8 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2017. It is also a major U.S. processor of pork and beef products.

The company is in the process of building a new broiler complex in Humboldt, Tennessee. The complex is to include a feed mill, hatchery and processing plant, which is expected to process about 1.25 million birds per week. It is expected to open in 2019.

Meanwhile, Tyson Foods last week made the decision to close its poultry plant in Dawson, Georgia. That facility had been badly damaged by a fire that occurred in April. About 300 full-time workers were employed at the plant in Dawson.

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