CALGARY – Meat-packing giant JBS-USA is one step closer to purchasing the Brooks facility that was the centre of a tainted meat scandal earlier this year.
While a spokesperson for the subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS said a deal has not yet been finalized, the company is pursuing the regulatory approvals required for it to assume ownership of XL Foods’ Lakeside packing plant. On Dec. 21, the provincial government cleared the way under Alberta’s “Foreign Ownership of Land” rules for JBS to acquire the property and adjacent feedlot.
“We’re going through the appropriate regulatory process,” said Cameron Bruett, spokesperson for JBS-USA. “We will of course notify the market when we finalize that acquisition.”
JBS assumed management of the Brooks plant in October, following an E. coli scare that resulted in the largest beef recall in Canadian history. As part of their $100 million deal with XL Foods’ embattled owners — Edmonton-based Nilsson Bros. — JBS also obtained an exclusive option to buy the plant as well as packing facilities in Calgary, Nebraska and Idaho.
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