Smithfield Foods’ Cudahy-based dry sausage facility broke ground Thursday on an expansion that will add 12,500 square feet, four new smokehouses and two dry rooms. It is scheduled to be completed in March 2016.
The new space will increase production capacity by three million pounds annually and allow for four additional dry rooms when future sales demand more volume. Smithfield will continue making various salami and pepperoni products at the dry sausage facility.
This marks the second major expansion to the facility this year, as the facility also broke ground in April on a new $12 million bacon slicing plant. The 17,000-square-foot plant includes four slicing lines that will increase Smithfield’s bacon capacity by approximately 10 million pounds annually. The plant is expected to be fully operational by October.
Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer.