Mary Thompson, president of Cargill Value Added Meats Food Service, said: “We’re thrilled to be the winning bidder for the Fort Worth facility, due to its track record of producing quality products and satisfying customers, its geographic advantage to our retail and foodservice customers, its proximity to raw materials and its access to growing regions.
“This is a strategic acquisition that complements our existing beef production and distribution infrastructure and better positions us to meet our goals for both short-term and long-term profitable growth.”
The purchase is the latest in a string of investments in Texas for Cargill, which has spent approximately $100m on a number of facilities, including the acquisition of a pig production facility near Dalhard and the construction of a livestock feed production facility in Bovina. The company has also invested $20m in improving its Plainview and Friona, Texas, beef processing facilities.
Cargill was the winning bidder for the former AFA Foods plant, which filed for bankruptcy in April. The company said it intends to retain the 250 staff employed at the site and use the plant to produce ground beef products for the retail and foodservice sectors.
