Koch Foods expanding poultry plant in Gadsden, Alabama

Koch Foods is planning a $6 million expansion at its poultry plant in Gadsden, Alabama. With the expansion, the company hopes to increase its production of value-added products.
Koch Foods was awarded non-education tax abatements for the expansion by the Gadsden City Council on October 21, according to a report by the Gadsden Times.
Terry Stephens, Koch Foods complex controller, told the city council that the company hopes to complete the expansion by January. Of the $6 million to be invested in the expansion, an estimated $5.5 million of the expansion will be used for additional equipment.
Once the plant expansion is completed, about 80 new jobs will be created, adding roughly $2.16 million annually to its payroll. Presently, the plant employs 505 people, and has a low absentee rate. Stephens said that low absentee rate is one of the reasons the Gadsden plant was chosen for the project.
Koch Foods purchased the Gadsden plant from Tyson Foods in 2007. The facility presently processes about 2 million chickens every five days.
Koch Foods’ Gadsden plant recently gathered industry attention as a recipient of a USPOULTRY Clean Water Award. The company was recognized for its full treatment of wastewater that not only reduces the plant’s carbon footprint, but also traps methane gas that is a source of green energy utilized and burned in the plant’s boiler unit.