West Liberty Foods Building Third Co-Packing Plant in Iowa

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The privately held meat co-packing company West Liberty Foods Incorporated (West Liberty, Iowa) is currently building a third plant in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

The company purchased an existing 50,000 square foot specification building and added 10,000 square feet for office and employee welfare areas. West Liberty plans to have the $6 million operation up and running by April of 2003.

200 area jobs will be created and the hiring of employees should begin sometime in late 2002.

The plant will produce sliced turkey products and add to the company's existing 120 million pounds per year of production capacity. Along with the slicing operation, vacuum packing equipment will be installed as well as a cold storage area for finished product.

West Liberty also operates a 270,000 square foot plant in West Liberty and a 49,000 square foot plant in Sigourney.

West Liberty Foods has proven that a value-added cooperative owned by Iowa farmers can carve out their own profitable niche in the marketplace, and become a respected major supplier to the food industry. In just four years, West Liberty Foods has gone from a fledgling startup company of 425 employees to an industry leader with over 900 employees.