Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 5/6/15

The Jennie-O Turkey Store plant in Faribault, Minn., will move to a single processing shift on May 26, continuing “for the foreseeable future,” resulting in the layoff of 233 employees, the company said in a news release posted on its website.

The move is due to the High Path Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak that has hit Minnesota’s turkey flocks especially hard. It has reduced the number of birds in Jennie-O’s supply chain and the company can’t fill its capacity.

“This will be a temporary layoff and our intent is to have everyone come back to work when bird numbers return to normal levels,” said Randy L. Vergin, plant manager, noting that he does not have a date by when he anticipates the workers will be called back.

Jennie-O employs more than 650 at the Faribault plant. That is the only plant where operations have been affected by the AI outbreak so far, a company spokesman told Meatingplace.

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