The Foster Farms poultry processing plant in Farmerville, Louisiana, is back online after being idled because of issues with the city’s water supply.
“The plant is operating,” Foster Farms spokesman Ira Brill said in an email sent to WATT Global Media on February 16. “Foster Farms voluntarily closed the plant when advised by the town that there was a potential issue with the water, which the town of Farmerville provides. The mayor now advises the water is safe.”
KNOE reported on February 15 that the plant had been closed for two days. Mayor John Crow confirmed with the station that the water that the city provided for Foster Farms had been contaminated and tests proved that, but he couldn’t identify the source of the contamination.
“We had some issues with the water. Foster Farms called, and the town of Farmerville went up and we started to work on it rapidly. We thought it would be in the best interest to close the plant so we could get it corrected,” he said.
Crow said city crews “drained all the tanks” and did “what they were told to do,” and after that, the water was retested and deemed safe.
While there was contamination with the water provided to the plant, the rest of Farmerville’s water customers were not affected. The city runs water for the plant on a separate system than the rest of the community.
Foster Farms has had a presence in Farmerville since 2010, when it purchased the facility from Pilgrim’s Pride.
The plant underwent an expansion and upgrade in 2017, in which the facility’s cut-up and deboning departments were modernized. The expansion enabled the company to increase its workforce at the facility by 50 workers.
In September 2022, Foster Farms announced that it had increased the entry level wage rate for workers at the Farmerville facility to $17.30 per hour, an increase of $4.60.
