US food company Tyson Foods has proposed the construction of a new $136m processing facility close to its existing poultry plant in Green Forest, Arkansas.
Expected to create nearly 85 jobs after being fully operational, the proposal for the new project has been presented to the Finance Committee of the Carroll County Quorum Court by a group of company employees.
The success of the project is dependent in part on the approval of certain tax abatements from the Carroll County Quorum Court and sales, as well as use tax credits from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC).
Tyson Foods poultry president Noel White said: "This project would allow us to better serve our foodservice customers through improved product mix and greater efficiencies.
"This is the first new plant construction project Tyson Foods has proposed to build in a number of years and we're hopeful we can partner with Carroll County and the AEDC to invest in our home state."
The existing Green Forest facility currently produces a wide range of partially cooked chicken products to cater to the demands of the catering and retail customers.
The new plant will be built to increase the capacity of Green Forest's partially cooked products.
This will also improve the efficiency of the existing plant by avoiding the transportation of products to other locations for further processing.
A new contruction spread across more than 200,000ft², the new facility is expected to be connected with the older plant by a corridor.
The project features the deployment of new equipment and launch of new production lines, as well as ensure quality, food and workplace safety.
The construction of the new plant is expected to begin later this year and slated to be completed by the end of next year.
