Cargill is scaling back production at its Hereford poultry processing plant following the loss of an Asda contract.
The Yazor Road factory will cease production of bread and battered (B&B) poultry products for retail on 1 June, putting 230 jobs at risk.
Cargill said it lost the Asda B&B business during a “competitive tendering process” and had decided to switch focus to growing its primary fresh chicken business.
The company’s other Hereford site - and its poultry processing operations in Wolverhampton and Newent - would not be affected, and “every effort” would be made to redeploy staff across the other sites, it added.
“This is not an easy announcement to make. Every effort will be made to minimise the impact of this on our employees, they are our first priority here,” said Cargill MD Mary Thompson.
“I’d like to personally thank every employee for all their hard work and commitment to Cargill and producing such high-quality fantastic products.”
An Asda spokeswoman confirmed it awarded its breaded and battered chicken business to a new supplier following a competitive tender process with Cargill last year.
“We regularly review our ranges to ensure we’re offering our customers market-leading, high-quality products at great prices,” she said.
Cargill has now entered into a period of consultation with the affected staff and their union members.
Unite, which represents staff at the site, said it was “quietly confident” it could avoid compulsory redundancies through voluntary redundancy and redeployment.
“We are talking about a 20% cutback to the workforce at Yazor Road. The Grandstand Road site is unaffected by this announcement,” said Unite regional officer Joe Clarke.
“We will be working closely and constructively with the company in the weeks ahead and I appreciate that it is a worrying time for our members, but we will be keeping them fully informed of how the talks with management progress.”
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