New Clemens Pork Processing Plant Opens

Sep 06, 2017

Farms.com Editorial Team

The new Clemens Food Group pork processing plant began operations this week. The new 550,000 square-foot fresh pork processing facility is located at Jonesville Road and Newton Road in Coldwater, Michigan. It is expected to cost more than $255.7 million in private investment and create over 800 jobs.

There has not been a Michigan based pork processing plant of any size since the Thornapple Valley plant closed in 1998.

The new Coldwater plant is expected to reach peak production by February of next year handling 10-thousand hogs a day.

Clemens Food Group is based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania and offers brands including Premium Reserve, Hatfield, Red’s, Prima Porta, and Nick’s. They also offer many products for the restaurants and institutional food services.

Video: Finding a Balance of Innovation and Regulation - Dr. Peter Facchini

Regulations help markets and industry exist on level playing fields, keeping consumers safe and innovation from going too far. However, incredibly strict regulations can stunt innovation and cause entire industries to wither away. Dr. Peter James Facchini brings his perspective on how existing regulations have slowed the advancement of medical developments within Canada. Given the international concern of opium poppy’s illicit potential, Health Canada must abide by this global policy. But with modern technology pushing the development of many pharmaceuticals to being grown via fermentation, is it time to reconsider the rules?

Dr. Peter James Facchini leads research into the metabolic biochemistry in opium poppy at the University of Calgary. For more than 30 years, his work has contributed to the increased availability of benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthetic genes to assist in the creation of morphine for pharmaceutical use. Dr. Facchini completed his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of Toronto before completing Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky in 1992 & Université de Montréal in 1995.