The plant is slated to close Oct. 16, and 100 workers will be laid off.
The company's ground beef processing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, was sold to Cargill for $14.1 million. FPL Food LLC bought the company’s Thomasville, Ga., plant for $7.3 million and its Los Angeles plant was sold to Tri West Investments for $4.4 million, according to media reports. CTI Food Holding Co. LLC had the winning bid for an AFA ground beef processing plant in King of Prussia. The price was not disclosed.
AFA Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 2, citing changes in the market for ground beef and the impact of the controversy over lean finely textured beef (LFTB). AFA was a competitor of Beef Products Inc., another producer of LFTB that was embroiled in the LFTB controversy.
The company also was involved in an E. coli outbreak in 2009, according to local news reports. AFA Foods recalled 500,000 lbs. of ground beef after it was linked to an outbreak that killed two people and sickened 500.
