A central Alberta town is getting two meat packing plants.
South River Foods announced last week it will build an $18.5 million beef processing plant in Lacombe. Earlier in the year an existing provincial packing plant, YB Quality Meats, in nearby Penhold announced it would build a $7.5 million federal meat packing plant, named Canadian Premium Meats, also in Lacombe.
The announcements have officials in Lacombe smiling.
“This puts us on the map for food processing,” said Paul Salvatore, the town’s economic development officer.
Both plants will be located in Lacombe’s newly developed industrial park more than one kilometre from town, close to Highway 2 that connects Calgary and Edmonton.
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Salvatore said the town has the water and sewer infrastructure to handle the demands of the plants and the effluent they will produce. As well, it is close to a large dairy industry.
The South River Foods plant will slaughter animals both older and younger than 30 months and will be one of the first Canadian processors to use a “hot boning” technique where meat is removed hot from the bone without prior chilling and then immediately packed and frozen. The technique involves less handling and storage of the carcass and has been successfully used in New Zealand and Australia.
South River Foods chief executive officer Jim Patillo had originally talked about locating the 400-head per day plant in Lethbridge, but eventually settled on Lacombe. The plant is expected to open next fall. Construction is to start immediately.
“The economic situation made more sense in central Alberta,” Salvatore said.
The Canadian Premium Meats plant will process 125 head of cattle, bison and elk a day into a variety of boxed beef products for export to the United States and Europe. The plant is expected to be built by next spring.
