Loan for Maple Leaf Foods plant

The federal government is giving Maple Leaf Foods five million dollars to purchase and install new meat processing technology. The announcement was made Thursday at Hamilton’s Glover Road plant.

Earlier this year, the company’s president said the $400 million dollar plant is key to Maple Leaf’s financial future. Beef exports have been down in recent years — and Maple Leaf has been struggling to rebound from millions in losses. The federal agriculture department says the meat industry is the largest sector in Canadian food manufacturing. The 5 million dollars of federal money will be invested in new technology at Hamilton’s facility to better process deli meat. Maple Leaf says it will help them to reach their goal of having the most advanced prepared meats facility in North America.

Rick Young is Exec. V.P. of Transformation for Maple Leaf Foods: “The basis of that is technology. This allows us to purchase a standard throughout Europe, making its way into the U.S. market but will be the first of its kind in Canada. It will give us the opportunity to produce at a very high volume, deli sliced meats with improved safety.”

David Sweet is MP for Ancaster, Dundas, Flamborough, Westdale: “This is a repayable loan for Maple Leaf Foods and what it means is that they’re going to be able to invest in cutting edge technology and innovation for processing here. Bottom line it means jobs. Spoke with the VP – 700 jobs when this is fully up and running.”

Right now the plant’s running hot dog production — this new deli meat technology is expected to be implemented by the summertime. And the plant – which is replacing three older facilities — is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of the year.