Columbus Foods Slicing and Packaging Facility

Columbus Foods opened a new food slicing and packaging facility in Hayward, California, US, in July 2011.

Located in the Hayward industrial park, the plant was established to replace production from Columbus Foods' processing plant in South San Francisco.

The state-of-the-art facility was built with an investment of $31m.

The new plant will help in meeting the continuing growth in demand for the products in the US.

Columbus has a workforce of about 325 employees. The project provided 70 additional jobs at the facility.

Columbus Foods opened a new food slicing and packaging facility in Hayward, California, US, in July 2011. Located in the Hayward industrial park, the plant was established to replace production from Columbus Foods’ processing plant in South San Francisco.

A major fire accident had destroyed the South San Francisco facility in July 2009. Columbus was managing its production from co-packer facilities since the fire accident.

The state-of-the-art facility was built with an investment of $31m. The project received funding mainly from the insurance proceeds.

Columbus Foods was founded in 1917 in North Beach, San Francisco. Endeavour Capital owns majority stake in the company. Columbus produces Italian-style salami products and deli meats. The company’s dry-cured, fermented salamis are made exclusively of pork.

Columbus owns another facility in South San Francisco where traditional and artisan hand-crafted salami and deli meats are produced. The company sells 30 million pounds of deli meats and 12 million pounds of salami a year, earning annual revenues of $200m. The products are distributed through nationwide supermarkets and speciality food stores.

The new plant will help in meeting the continuing growth in demand for the products in the US. Columbus has a workforce of about 325 employees. The project provided 70 additional jobs at the facility.

Plant design for Columbus Foods’ food slicing and packaging facility

The new meat slicing and packaging facility included the renovation of 60,000ft² area of the company’s existing 120,000ft² distribution centre.

The renovated plant has three production lines for slicing and packaging.

It incorporates the latest technologies to improve efficiency of the lines besides product handling and safety standards.

The facility includes specialised rooms and restricted process flows for hygienic zoning. It has separate slicing rooms for deli and cured meats. The facility features vestibules with magnetic locks to avoid contamination.

Construction of the Californian facility

The design process of the plant started in April 2010 and was completed in August that year. Ground broke on the project in September 2010. The first of the three lines began operating in May 2011. The second and third became operational a month later.

Technology and processing at Columbus Foods’ new site

The Hayward plant is one of the few manufacturing facilities in the US to invest in high pressure processing (HPP) technology. HPP utilises ultra-high water pressure of about 87,000lb of pressure per square inch (PSI) to kill the microbials present in the meat. It also eliminates the risk of food-borne pathogens such as listeria. The technology was supplied by NC Hyperbaric.

The HPP treatment chamber, costing $4m, destroys the vegetative microbes present in the food without the need to apply heat. The non-thermal process preserves the nutritional value, taste and texture of the product and prevents growth of harmful bacteria.

The technology maintains high quality of the products, ensuring both safety and full flavour, without using traditional chemical and antimicrobial ingredients.

Capacity at the food slicing and packaging complex

The plant can cut and pack 15,000lb of salami and roast beef in a day. Meat blades running at 700rpm can cut up to 1,400 slices of meat a minute in an eight-hour shift. The plant processes and packs about 17,000,000lb of meat per annum into convenient and ready-to-eat packages.

Contractors involved

The Hayward meat plant was designed and built by Florida-based Stellar, a company specialising in engineering, construction, design and mechanical services.

Stellar was responsible for the architectural design, layout of the production lines and construction of the facility. It also made suggestions for equipment purchase.

The National Meat Association (NMA) located in Oakland, California, provided USDA compliance consultation services and design review for the project. Rick Kimbrell provided consultation for sanitation design.

Other consultants involved in the project included Italian air handling equipment manufacturer Travaglini and food safety consultant John Weisgerber.