6 August 2008

2 minute read

North America

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Earlier this month Natural Prairie Beef, in partnership with the Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council, completed a deal for the purchase of the former Maple Leaf por processing plant on Marion Street in Winnipeg.

The producer owned company has already started renvoations.

President and CEO Kelly Penner says the plant, the first federally inspected beef processing facility to come on line in Manitoba in a generation, will employ the latest technology to trace every animal from gate to plate.

Kelly Penner-Natural Prairie Beef

Over the next couple of years we'll be retrofitting that plant.

About two thirds of the plant will be demolished.

By the time we're done it'll be a brand new state of the art plant. Full traceability from gate to plate is our focus as far as the tracability side.

We're targeting to open up in early 2010.

It'll be a plant that's designed to slaighter and process 250 head per day.

It'll have the capacity to expand to 500 head per day over the course of the next five, six, seven years.

Our marketing plant right now is to include all catte producers are raising to include over 30 month old cattle, under 30 month fat cattle, cattle that are raised for our natural programs.

We've done a lot of research on kosher and halal which would include a lot of the conventionally raised cattle in the province.

We believe we're at a transportation, freight disadvantage to the rest of the country and we feel that Winnipeg is a great location for this plant.

Penner says, once fully operational, the facility will focus on premium niche export markets to avoid competing directly against the industries major packing companies.

TheCattleSite News Desk