Swift Prepared Foods Opens Principe Foods Facility in Missouri

April 6, 2023

The $200 million Italian meats and charcuterie plant is the second new plant Swift has built in the region in the last two years.

Andy Hanacek

Swift Prepared Foods, a subsidiary of JBS USA, opened its new Principe Foods plant in Columbia, Mo., today. Swift’s newest 325,000-square-foot processing facility will produce Italian meats and charcuterie, and it represents the culmination of 24 months of planning and construction of the $200 million facility.

According to a release announcing today’s ribbon-cutting event, Principe Foods has already created 100 new jobs in the region, with plans to hire 100 to 200 more people over the next year.

Swift Prepared Foods announced plans to build the new Principe facility in Columbia in April 2021, one month prior to opening a new RTE, fully-cooked bacon production facility some 36 miles north, in Moberly, Mo.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.