Thomas Foods International gets green light from EPA, will reopen in January
South Australia’s Environment Protection Authority has cleared TFI’s new Murray Bridge abattoir to start operating when it is finished.
Thomas Foods International has cleared one of the last remaining hurdles in its race to reopen in Murray Bridge.
The company’s new meat processing facility won approval from the Environment Protection Authority on November 10.
Under the terms of the EPA licence, TFI will have to make sure the abattoir at Pallamana does not produce excess smells or wastewater, and that locals are consulted about any changes as it grows.
Operations director Andrew Pruszinski said the EPA would conduct regular compliance checks to make sure it was abiding by the rules.
When the facility opens in January, it will initially employ about 350 people and process up to 600 head of cattle per day.
More jobs will follow in years to come as the beef line is expanded and a lamb line is added.
On January 3, five years will have passed since the fire that destroyed TFI’s old facility in Murray Bridge, putting 1500 people out of work.
While that experience had been awful, TFI managing director Darren Thomas described the opportunity to rebuild on a greenfield site as an amazing opportunity.
“Being able to embrace the latest in technology, productivity, animal welfare, renewable energy – there’s so many things built from scratch that we’re going to be able to do,” he said in a recent company publicity video.
“It certainly will cement us as one of the market leaders in the world of food processing.”
The new facility was approved in 2020; construction began in December of that year.
Clarification: This post has been updated to reflect the fact that additional jobs will be created at TFI in years to come.
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