CHICAGO - Tyson Foods Inc said it was cooperating with the U.S. Agriculture Department after a Waldron, Arkansas poultry plant that processes 1.3 million chickens a week was shut down.
A USDA spokesman said inspectors discovered a sanitation problem at the poultry plant and shut it down as a preventive measure. Tyson said it had received no written report from the Agriculture Department and could not comment on the specifics of the closing.
"It is our impression that this action came about as a result of changing expectations and methods of evaluation related to USDA's recently expanded mission and new food inspection techniques," Tyson said in a statement.
"We're working diligently with the USDA to meet those new expectations at Waldron so that the plant can reopen in short order."
A team of inspectors from the Food Safety and Inspection Service were sent to the plant Thursday, FSIS spokesman Steve Lombardi said in an interview.
He said the inspectors will determine when the plant can be re-opened but added that it was "too early to tell" when the inspectors would give their approval.
"They won't do that (reopen the plant) until they're satisfied that the problems won't occur again," Lombardi said. "That may take some time."
Similar shutdowns are expected under a new USDA system designed to increase food safety, Lombardi said.
"We don't wait until it gets to be an extreme problem," he said. "The systems are preventive. It's a good sign that it's happening early."
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