American Aquaculture Holdings has acquired the former Allen Harim Foods poultry processing plant in Cordova, Maryland, and will develop a state-of-the-art vertically integrated aquafarm at the facility.
Allen Harim, the 19th largest broiler company in the United States, announced it would shutter the poultry plant in 2016 and consolidate the operations at the Cordova plant into its expanded facility in Harbeson, Delaware. At the time, Allen Harim stated that it would retain about ten employees to monitor the facility until it is sold.
According to a press release from the Talbot County Economic Development and Tourism agency, American Aquaculture Holdings is a U.S.-based company with more than 35 years of global experience in the value-added seafood industry.
The recently sold 80-acre parcel located just off Maryland Route 404 includes a 126,000 square-foot building with cold storage, as well as a wastewater treatment facility that is currently permitted for water appropriation and discharge. The existing infrastructure and permits, along with the proximity to East Coast markets, make this an ideal location for this business and a benefit to the company, the press release stated.
“We are tremendously excited to be working with American Aquaculture Holdings on this project,” said Talbot County Economic Development Coordinator Samuel Shoge. “It could reinvigorate the village of Cordova and send ripples through the surrounding region.”
The Cordova processing facility was built in 1945 by Cordova Poultry Company and purchased by the former Allen Family Foods in 1971.
About 300 people were employed at the former Allen Harim plant at the time of its closure. Workers there offered jobs at the company's other locations, including a hatchery, feed mill and truck shop in Seaford, Delaware, a hatchery in Dagsboro, Delaware, and its main processing facility in Harbeson.
Allen Harim Foods, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, processed 7.63 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2018.
