Five months after closing its Edmonton plant, Maple Leaf Meats is returning to Alberta’s hog slaughtering business.
The company has no plans of resurrecting its troubled Edmonton site, which was closed when workers went on strike, but will convert its beef processing plant in Lethbridge into a specialty pork processing plant.
The $4 million conversion will enable the plant to produce specialty pork products for the Japanese market, said Don Davidson, senior vice-president and general manager of Maple Leaf Pork in Burlington, Ont.
Unlike most pork plants that scald and dehair the pigs, the new plant will use a Japanese technique called hot skinning, similar to taking the hide off beef.
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The process also involves a laborious boning process impossible to do on a high-speed line.
When the conversion is complete in five months, Maple Leaf hopes to have a facility similar to Japanese models.
As well as specially designed equipment, the company plans to bring in machinery from the mothballed Edmonton plant.
“There’s a fair bit of equipment for hog processing that is suitable for this.”
The company will hire 120 more people to add to the 60 already at the beef facility. The plant should be able to slaughter 5,000 to 6,000 hogs a week.
No more beef
The conversion will end Maple Leaf’s involvement in the beef business. The Lethbridge plant was designed to ship carcasses to stores, which would cut the carcasses to their own specifications.
However, most beef today is shipped as boxed beef, ready for sale in the grocery stores.
“We were in a very declining demand market,” Davidson said.
The company has signed a five-year contract with United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401 at the plant.
It’s the same union, but a different local, that went on strike in Edmonton for higher wages. The company responded by closing the aging plant and unveiling plans for a modern plant in Brandon, Man.
Ed Schultz, general manager of the Alberta Pork Producers Development Corporation said Maple Leaf’s announcement is good news for the hog industry.
“It’s a welcome addition,” said Schultz, of Edmonton.
“They’ll offer an alternative style of processing that inevitably will be good for the final end user.”
