Food safety giant SureBeam has announced that it will close its Vernon, California processing service centre in an effort to consolidate its processing services business. The move is designed to curb a current oversupply of capacity.
The company says that customers will continue to be able to process their products at one of SureBeam's other domestic facilities.
"SureBeam has experienced growth in its processing services business in the past three years," said chairman John Arme. "Despite a continuing increase in processed ground beef, at this time the utilisation level has not yet reached the point where the costs of maintaining the capacity of the four state-of-the-art processing centers are offset.
"As a result, this action is being taken as a prudent business measure to enable SureBeam to realise immediate budget efficiencies and to make adjustments that better meet current short-term and intermediate-term market demand.
"SureBeam will continue to align its assets in a manner that best positions the Company for long-term business opportunity."
SureBeam operates processing service centres located in the US and Brazil. The company is a leading provider of electron beam food safety systems and services for the food industry.
The SureBeam patented system is based on electron beam and x-ray technology that destroys harmful food-borne bacteria much like thermal pasteurization does to milk.