Shropshire food giant's new £25m abattoir officially opened
One of Shropshire's biggest employers today officially unveiled its new £25 million abattoir.
ABP Foods, the Irish meat processing giant, has spent the last two years rebuilding the abattoir on its site at Hordley, near Ellesmere, having spent five years planning the project.
Today Mike Coupe, chief executive of Sainsbury's, a customer of the Hordley site for the last 50 years, officially opened the new building.
Director Steve Thompson said: "Today marks a very significant and exciting milestone for ABP Ellesmere and shows genuine investment into the beef supply chain.
"The completed development now positions Ellesmere at the very forefront of British and European beef production."
The site employs 727 staff, which adds to about 400 at ABP's other abattoir in Shrewsbury to make the company one of the biggest private sector employers in Shropshire.
It processes 1,000 cattle per week, on behalf of more than 2,000 farmers from Shropshire and its neighbouring counties.
The site is also the first beef processing plant in Europe to be certified a carbon neutral building, having installed a new combined heat and power unit. The unit runs on tallow, which is rendered from animal fat – a by-product of cattle slaughtered on-site – and bio-diesel made from cooking oil.
It has recycled part of the old abattoir building on the site, including 1,900 tonnes of stone and 55 tonnes of steel, and has developed its own waste water treatment facility.
ABP's total operation at Hordley covers around 650,000 sq ft, and produces beef products for British retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers.
It also exports to France, Holland, Germany and Italy.
