Employees at the McCain vegetable processing plant in north-west Tasmania are hopeful that a co-operative could be created to ensure jobs are not lost. McCain announced last week that, while their Smithton potato processing plant will remain open, the vegetable processing plant in the same area will be shut as they move the operation to New Zealand. One of the workers impacted, David Murphy, told the ABC that employees would be supportive of a community-run plant. “It’d be nice to think... ...Read more »

The food processing sector in Australia has received another blow with the second major plant closure in a fortnight. McCain Foods announced that their vegetable processing plant in Smithton, Tasmania will close in November 2010, advising that the cost to make necessary upgrades to the plant was unable to be justified. The news will see 115 workers made redundant and follows the recent National Foods announcement of the closure of their Berri juice plant in Riverland. McCain will keep the potato... ...Read more »