Officials for Tyson Foods, Inc. hosted a ground breaking on August 24, for a $136 million, 200,000-square-foot poultry processing facility near its existing poultry plant in Green Forest, Arkansas. Plans are for the project to be completed by late 2017.
The project, contingent on some tax incentives, was presented by a group of Tyson Foods employees to the finance committee of the Carroll County Quorum Court on April 13. The project will create approximately 85 jobs once it is fully operational.
The new plant will be attached via a corridor to Tyson’s facility just across the street, which was built by Franz Foods in 1959 and acquired by Tyson eight years later. Approximately 250 workers are currently employed at the Green Forest plant.
“This project would allow us to better serve our foodservice customers through improved product mix and greater efficiencies,” said Noel White, president of poultry for Tyson Foods. “This is the first new plant construction project Tyson Foods has proposed to build in a number of years and we’re thankful we can partner with Carroll County and the AEDC to invest in our home state.”
The Green Forest plant currently produces a variety of partially cooked chicken products for foodservice and retail customers. The new facility will include additional production lines and equipment to increase capacity and efficiency by eliminated the need to ship products to other locations for further processing. New processes and technology are being designed to benefit food safety, quality and workplace safety.
