Cargill has restarted turkey production at its Springdale plant after the facility was linked to salmonella earlier this year.
The US agribusiness giant suspended ground turkey production at the Springdale plant in August and September after an investigation linked the site to an outbreak of salmonella heidelberg, affecting dozens of people across 31 states. Of those, one person was reported dead.
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The announcement yesterday (19 December) comes after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved an “enhanced” food safety plan to reduce the risk of salmonella in ground turkey.
As a result, 50 employees have been called back to work from an early October, 130-person layoff. The company said more than 70 people had already been called back to work as job openings in other parts of the factory occurred.
One of four ground turkey production lines has resumed at Springdale and the other three will be reactivated over the coming weeks, the company said.
As part of the food safety plan, Cargill has implemented several new food safety measures, including more and better bacterial reduction steps throughout the process and a three-phase ground turkey sampling and monitoring program.
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By GlobalDataSteve Willardsen, president of Cargill Value Added Meats Retail, said: “With the collective knowledge, experience and capabilities we’ve tapped to find solutions, we are confident in our ability to better ensure the safest ground turkey products available for consumers. We are also very pleased to be able to bring people back to work during this holiday season.”
