(Cherokee) — Speculation is spreading concerning the future of the Iowa Food Group in Cherokee. KLEM radio was notified that the former Tyson meat plant has closed. Numerous attempts were made to contact the Iowa Food Group plant management for a comment, but there has not been any reply to our attempts. Several times the phone would not be answered. After several attempts, an individual who wanted to remain anonymous with Iowa Food Group answered our call, and referred us to visit with the corporate attorney.
Iowa Food Group did issue a news release Tuesday afternoon. The news release contained only two small paragraphs. It reads as follows: “Iowa Food Group is proud to have taken the Cherokee plant from shut-down for four years to completely operational with full USDA approval within 120 days. The plant
passed its GMP Food Safety Audit – Good Manufacturing Practices with an A+ score on April 4, 2019.” The news release continues to state: “Having now achieved each of these milestones and readied the plant to scale up production, IFG will be pausing production temporarily in order to recapitalize the company in preparation for the next stage of operations and
growth.”
There was no mention in the news release as to how long the plant would be shut down. Iowa Food Group had announced in September of 2018 that they would acquire the meat plant and process beef, pork, poultry, and lamb. At the time, Iowa Food Group indicated they would employ at least 100 people at
the start of operations.
