Tyson Foods is closing its prepared foods plant in Columbia, South Carolina, with the expected last day of operations to occur in mid-August.
About 150 people were employed at the plant, which further processes pork for taco meat and pizza toppings, according to an email from Tyson Foods spokesman Worth Sparkman.
“After much consideration and as part of ongoing efforts to increase efficiency in our business, we plan to discontinue operations at our Columbia, South Carolina, plant in mid-August. We’ve made this very difficult decision in order to continue focusing on and investing in strategic growth priorities,” Sparkman wrote.
“We intend to cooperate with state officials to ensure the employees affected by the closure are informed about unemployment benefits and any potential opportunities within Tyson Foods. Workers are welcome to apply for other openings within the company.”
The processing operations done at the Columbia plant will be consolidated into other Tyson Foods facilities, Sparkman said.
The decision to close the plant was not influenced by the current COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Despite this plant closure, the Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods still has plans for other expansion projects. Earlier in 2020, the company announced it was investing $27 million to upgrade its Tyson Prepared Foods facility in Caseyville, Illinois.
The company is presently in the process of building a new poultry plant in Humboldt, Tennessee, and a Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Eagle Mountain City, Utah.
Tyson Foods also recently rebuilt a portion of its beef plant in Holcomb, Kansas, which was damaged by a fire in August 2019. Also in Kansas, Tyson revealed plans to add about 7,000 square feet of freezer space at its Prepared Foods plant in Hutchinson.
Tyson Foods, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, is the largest broiler company in the United States and the second largest in the world. As a turkey producer, Tyson Foods ranks fifth among U.S. companies. Tyson Foods is also a leading producer of pork and beef products, and it recently entered the plant-based protein sector.
