Poultry plant expansion creates 30 new jobs

Taber, Alta. – A poultry processing and distribution company based in Surrey, B.C. has expanded its turkey plant in Alberta.

Sunrise Poultry Processors Ltd. – in partnership with the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA) – more than doubled the capacity of its turkey plant in Alberta.

The Taber plant will process 4.9 million kilograms of turkey per year, effectively growing the province’s share of the turkey processing industry and increasing the demand for Alberta turkey.

New jobs

Sunrise Poultry hired and trained 30 new staff members to keep up with the increased capacity of the upgraded facility.

With the plant looking to further expand the range of work done in Taber by adding more light fowl processing (chicken and smaller birds), there is a high priority on finding more people in the area to fill these posts.

Eduard Fetting, vice-president of Prairie Operations at Sunrise Poultry, says the expansion is an opportunity for all involved.

“We need more product if we are going to sell more at home and abroad. This means we need more heavy and light fowl, more production workers and a more efficient production environment,” he adds.

“With support from ALMA, we’re able to significantly increase our production and explore broad market opportunities much sooner than originally anticipated.”

Expansion

The expansion includes a significant upgrade of the existing processing equipment to handle the increased production volumes.

A new wastewater treatment system will reduce the environmental impact of the facility, while auto-weighing systems increase processing efficiency and help the company work around a tight labour market.