Cargill lays off 130 workers at troubled turkey plant

Cargill is laying-off 130 people at it’s Springdale, Ark, processing plant, the facility recently involved in a Salmonella outbreak traced back to the company’s ground turkey product.

The Minnesota-based meat company, which employs a total of 1,200 people at the Arkansas plant, said the layoffs were necessitated by the continued shutdown of the turkey processing line.

Located in the Arkansas poultry-growing region, it produces about half of Cargill’s “Honeysuckle” brand turkey products, and the company’s other turkey plant, in Virginia, can’t make up for that lost production, a company spokesman said.

The company is waiting for clearance from the Agriculture Department to resume ground turkey production at the Springdale plant with the recalls and subsequent closure have severely hurt turkey sales.

The outbreak, which began in February, affected 129 people in 34 states. The worst-hit states were Texas and the Upper Midwest.