Operations at four chicken- processing plants in Mississippi belonging to Tyson Foods Inc have been halted because of power cuts caused by hurricane Katrina, according to the Dow Jones news agency.
More than 4,000 workers are affected, company spokesman Gary Mickelson said. Two plants in Forest, Mississippi., and one in Vicksburg were still without electricity on Tuesday, but one in Carthage has power and crews are working on a plan to resume operations as quickly as possible, he said.
“We’re receiving reports of wind-related damage to some of the chicken houses that serve our Mississippi plants,” Mickelson added. But he said that disruptions to phone lines make a full assessment of the situation difficult.
The world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, Tyson has 58 poultry processing plants in 12 states – including Alabama and Georgia. All but those in Mississippi are operating, the spokesman said.
