Business

Tyson Foods resumes slaughtering hogs at idled Iowa pork plant

Tyson Foods Inc said it resumed slaughtering hogs at an Iowa meat plant on Wednesday, three weeks after idling the facility because of a mechanical malfunction.

FILE PHOTO: Outbreak of the coronavirus desease (COVID-19) in Waterloo, Iowa
FILE PHOTO: A Tyson Foods pork processing plant, temporarily closed due to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen in Waterloo, Iowa, U.S., April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Brenna Norman

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CHICAGO: Tyson Foods Inc said it resumed slaughtering hogs at an Iowa meat plant on Wednesday, three weeks after idling the facility because of a mechanical malfunction.

Workers at the plant in Columbus Junction, Iowa, will begin butchering the animals into cuts of pork on Thursday, spokeswoman Liz Croston said in an email. The company plans to increase production gradually, she said.

Tyson said on Dec. 16 that the plant could be idle for a few days for repairs and that it was shifting production to other facilities.

The Columbus Junction plant kills about 10,100 pigs a day, or about 2per cent of the nation's total slaughtering capacity, according to industry estimates.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Source: Reuters