Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/11/09
   

ConAgra officials on Wednesday said the company will continue to pay its employees their full salaries and hopes to rebuild the plant in Garner, N.C., where an explosion Tuesday took three lives and sent dozens to the hospital.

"ConAgra is going to continue to pay the employees fully, indefinitely," ConAgra spokeswoman Stephanie Childs told reporters at a news conference.

"Our deepest sympathies are with the three victims and their families," ConAgra CEO Gary Rodkin said in a statement. "ConAgra Foods will continue to provide our people with support and counseling assistance, and will continue to support local authorities in identifying the cause of this accident."

Childs told reporters the explosion occurred in the packaging portion of the 900-worker plant, which ConAgra officials said is the only one of its facilities that makes Slim Jim meat snacks. Other ConAgra facilities keep inventory of the product, the company said.

ConAgra hopes to reopen the facility in Garner, Rodkin was quoted by the North Carolina News Network as saying.

"Our hope is to rebuild, but there are many challenges we need to work through. And we need to make sure we can continue to service our customers," said Rodkin, who flew to Garner Wednesday from the corporate headquarters in Omaha, Neb.

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