Tyson Foods establishes meatpacking and portioning operations with South Carolina plant revamp

18 Mar 2021 --- US meat giant Tyson Foods is bolstering its case-ready meat production by converting a South Carolina plant. The meat-cutting factory produces retail-ready, portioned packages of sliced, fresh beef and pork, as well as ground beef, for grocery and club stores in the eastern US.

Tyson is initially investing around US$42 million to transform the facility into a meat portioning and packaging operation, scheduled for a May opening.

Additional investments, including providing production and equipment, will take place over the next three to five years with an estimated total investment of US$55 million.

Conversion of Columbia plant
The company is using an idle Tyson-owned facility to bring operations back to Columbia, US. The new operation will employ 330 people, more than double the number of team members who worked at the facility when it closed in August 2020.

“Once operational, this new facility will help us meet growing demand from our retail customers with high quality, pre-cut, pre-packaged fresh beef and pork,” says Nate Hodne, senior vice president and general manager of the Portioned Protein Innovations team for Tyson Fresh Meats, the beef and pork subsidiary of Tyson Foods. 

“Tyson Foods’ reinvestment in the Columbia plant highlights South Carolina’s strategic and geographic importance to agribusiness,” adds South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers.

Boosting consumer-ready products
Tyson Foods’ case-ready beef and pork business currently operates plants in Iowa, Tennessee and Texas and plans to open a new facility in Utah later this year. The operations are called case-ready because the packaged meat produced by the Tyson facilities is ready to be placed directly in the refrigerated meat case at grocery and club stores.

Last month, Tyson Foods said it was making organizational changes designed to improve operational agility, customer experience and innovation speed to market, ensuring that all businesses are well-positioned to adapt to a dynamic environment. Each of Tyson Foods’ four business segments will be equipped with the resources and structure needed to enable quicker responses.

Edited by Gaynor Selby