An explosion occurred at a Cargill beef plant on October 17, in Dodge City, Kansas.
Only two people were in the building at the time, according to a USA Today report, but both of those people were treated for burns after the explosion occurred.
Production at the plant stopped that day, but part of the facility was operating the next day, Cargill Protein spokesperson Daniel Sullivan said in an email.
“Many of the plant’s employees are at work and the further processing side of our facility is running at full capacity. Employees who had shifts suspended will be paid for those hours. We expect the cattle receiving side of our facility to be back up and running by early next week. In the meantime, we are working with our other facilities to receive cattle and will meet all of our customer commitments,” Sullivan stated.
Sullivan added that the company continues to focus on safety and repairing the area around where the explosion occurred.
An estimated 2,700 people are employed at the plant.
The affected plant is part of the company’s Cargill Protein segment, which includes all of the company’s North American beef, turkey, foodservice and food distribution businesses. Cargill protein is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.
The Cargill plant explosion marks the second fire-related incident to affect a beef plant in southwestern Kansas in 2019.
In August, Tyson Foods’ beef plant in Holcomb, Kansas, was badly damaged by a fire. Further processing continues to be done at the Holcomb plant, because that part of the plant was not damaged by the fire. Noel White, Tyson Foods CEO, said in December during the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference that the plant is being restored, and he anticipated that the facility will return to full production by December.
Holcomb is located about 60 miles northwest of Dodge City.
