Failed beef plant in Mississippi prepares to reopen

For more than three years, a 140,000-square foot facility in Oakland, Miss., has been empty — a reminder of the state's gamble on a meat processor that failed. Houston-based Windsor Quality Food Co., however, has given the facility and the town another chance, reports Lisa Keefe for Meatingplace.com, a publication for the meatpacking industry.

"Windsor bought the plant last spring," Keefe writes. "It had been built in 2003 by Mississippi Beef Processors, and closed in August 2004, only three months after it opened. The closure cost the state of Mississippi $55 million when the owners defaulted on a state-guaranteed loan."

The new facility will employ 150 people initially, but the number could rise to 400 as more production lines are added. A town of fewer than 1,000, Oakland is about 80 miles south of Memphis. (Read more)