Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 9/20/18



Sanderson Farms on Wednesday said is Kinston, N.C., chicken processing plant has resumed one shift of operations but its St. Pauls facility remains closed due to impassable roads in the area.

Neither processing plant experienced significant damage, nor did its feedmill or hatcheries in the state, the company said. The St. Pauls plant will resume operations once it is safe for employees to navigate roads and highways, Sanderson said, noting that local streams and rivers are expected to crest later this week.

Many of its employees and growers lost homes and property, and some are being housed in shelters, the company said. It has received no reports of loss of life or serious injuries among its employees and growers.

Sanderson said it is still assessing the extent of damage to its independent contract farms and the loss of live birds. Current information indicates that 70 broiler houses out of 880 in North Carolina have flooded. Those farms housed 2.1 million chickens. Of that number, 1.35 million were in the St. Pauls big bird deboning division, and 755,000 birds were associated with the Kinston tray pack division.

The company has been able to reach most of the farms previously isolated by floodwaters to ensure adequate care and feed is available to the chickens on those farms. Electrical power continues to be restored at a steady pace, and the company believes power will be fully restored soon to all of its independent farms.

USDA makes school meals free
USDA announced that all students in affected disaster areas in North Carolina can receive free meals through the National School Lunch Program through Oct. 26. Thirty-one school districts and more than 284,000 children are affected.

Schools and other facilities designated as emergency shelters may provide meals through USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina can operate summer meal programs during the school closures and allow students to take meals home through Sept. 30, the agency said.

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