Maple Leaf Foods’ ongoing plan to consolidate its fresh poultry processing at London, Ont. now also includes the work from two more existing plants it owns north of Toronto.
Maple Leaf said Wednesday that in “pursuing further optimization opportunities,” it will shift poultry volumes now processed at Bradford and nearby Schomberg to the new London plant that’s now expected to be completed later this year.
For the next 18 months, work will continue as usual at Bradford and Schomberg, but volumes now handled at those two plants will be shifted to London by the end of 2023 as the new plant ramps up to full production, the company said.
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Past that point, the Bradford plant “will continue to operate with a new focus on value-added opportunities,” Maple Leaf said. The plant at Schomberg, about 40 km north of Mississauga, will be shut down.
The company said it “expects to identify opportunities at other plants within the Maple Leaf network” for affected workers.
The Bradford and Schomberg plants came to Maple Leaf in 2018 and last summer, respectively.
Maple Leaf in 2018 bought the former Cericola Farms poultry plants at Bradford and at Drummondville, Que., along with a supply agreement for 100 per cent of the processed chicken volume from Cericola’s Sure Fresh plant at Schomberg. Maple Leaf then exercised an option to buy the Schomberg plant last June.
Maple Leaf during that time had already announced plans to consolidate its own poultry processing around the new London facility, by closing the former Schneiders plant at St. Marys, Ont., followed by its Toronto and Brampton poultry plants later this year.
The new London plant, a project also announced in 2018, was originally expected to be complete in 2021. However, a company representative told the London Free Press last fall that delays due to wet weather and COVID-19 have pushed that date to later in 2022.
Maple Leaf also sold off the former Cericola plant at Drummondville in 2020 to Quebec processor Volaille Giannone, which in turn closed it a few months later. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
