Oct 1, 2005 12:00 PM

Farmland Foods Inc has announced an $81 million expansion of its pork processing facility in Denison IA that is expected to add 219 new jobs when the facility is completed in late summer 2007.

The Denison plant currently employs 1,500 workers producing fresh pork, hams, and bacon.

Construction is underway on a 165,000-square-foot addition to the Denison facility, which will add processing capacity for smoked sausage, ham slicing, and hot dogs. The expansion also will provide space for the processing of an additional 1,150 hogs per day, raising the plant capacity to 10,350 from the current 9,200 hogs per day.

Kansas City MO-based Farmland Foods, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods Inc, processes fresh and frozen pork products for national retail and foodservice markets.