Smithfield Foods has agreed to purchase a Nashville, Tenn., dry sausage production plant from Cargill, looking to spur continue growth in the value-added packaged meats segment and enhancing its ability to meet demand for pepperoni, deli, charcuterie and other dry sausage products, according to a Smithfield release.
“Dry sausage is one of our fastest-growing categories, and acquiring this facility from Cargill will better position us to improve sales, drive volume and increase our capacity to bring high-quality dry sausage products to the foodservice, industrial and retail sectors,” said Steve France, president of packaged meats for Smithfield Foods.
Smithfield expects Nashville production to support its existing Margherita, Carando and Armour dry sausage brands with 50 million pounds of capacity per year. The company expects to offer the roughly 160 current Nashville plant employees jobs with Smithfield in the same positions they currently hold, with no changes to base pay.
In January 2024, Cargill announced a partial permanent layoff of 111 employees who worked in the crumbles production operations at the plant, effective March 15.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and it is expected to close by the end of July 2024.
