Officials are investigating the death of a worker at a Koch Foods poultry plant in Montgomery, Alabama.
According to a report from the Montgomery Advertiser, officers from the Montgomery Police Department responded to a report of an industrial accident around 1 a.m. on March 9. The victim was not identified by name, but the Advertiser reported that the victim was a 19-year employee of the company.
“Koch has been wanting to contact the family and extend our sympathies to them,” Koch Foods spokesperson Jim Gilliland said.
The accident took place during the third shift, and Koch Foods is offering counseling services to any employees or relatives of the victim.
Gilliland told the newspaper that the company is cooperating with the state and federal agencies that are investigating the incident.
In 2020, Koch Foods’ poultry processing operations in Montgomery were honored by the Joint Industry Safety and Health Council with the Award of Distinction, the highest level of recognition through that awards program. The Award of Distinction honors facilities for sharing the essential aspects of safety and health training, education and employee involvement and have incurred injury and incident rates equal to or greater than 75 percent less than Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) results.
Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Park Ridge, Illinois, Koch Foods is presently the fifth largest broiler producer in the United States and eighth largest poultry company in the world. According to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, the company slaughters 655 million birds annually, and processes 60.74 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis.
Koch Foods has operations in Illinois, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee. Earlier in 2021, it was announced that Koch Foods was investing $15.9 million to expand its poultry plant in Gadsden, Alabama, a move that would add 135 new jobs.
