WattAgNet: Michael Foods egg plant badly damaged by fire

Company estimates the fire was responsible for more than $2.5 million worth of damages

A Michael Foods egg processing plant in Klingerstown, Pennsylvania, sustained more than $2.5 million in damages after a fire occurred there.

According to a press release from Post Holdings, Michael Foods’ parent company, the fire started in the duct work of an oven, but the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. No injuries occurred as a result of the fire.

Firefighters responded to the scene around 8:45 p.m. on May 24, reported the Republican Herald. Firefighters responding to the scene were from Klingerstown and Sacramento in Schuylkill County and Berrysburg, Lykens, Gratz, Pillow, Elizabethville, Dalmatia and Wiconisco in neighboring Dauphin County.

Post Holdings, in its press release, stated that costs related to the fire may be incurred in different reporting periods than any insurance recovery.

Michael Foods, headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, is the world’s largest supplier of processed eggs in the world.

Post Holdings acquired Michael Foods from GS Capital Partners for $2.45 billion in 2014. Since that acquisition, Post acquired Willamette Egg Farms, which at the time was the 30th largest egg producer in the United States, as well as National Pasteurized Eggs, a producer of pasteurized shell eggs. Both businesses became part of Post’s Michael Foods operations.

According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, Michael Foods had a layer flock that included 12.18 million hens at the conclusion of 2017.