UTAH, Aug. 17, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Plans have been announced to consolidate two Utah cannery operations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in response to changing processing demands.
The operations of the Murray Utah Cannery will be consolidated into those of the Harrisville Utah Cannery, effective January 2021, said a news release from the LDS Church Monday morning.
These canneries package and bottle food grown on church-owned farms.
“Cannery operations continue to be an integral part of the church’s strategy to support food security initiatives in our communities,” said Guillermo Antivilo, director of the production and distribution division of the Welfare and Self-Reliance Services Department.
The consolidation will take advantage of the state-of-the-art equipment and additional processing capacity of the Harrisville facility, dedicated in May 2017, thus increasing both efficiency and output, the news release said.
Employees currently working at the Murray Cannery will be reassigned to similar positions in other church operations.
“The decision to consolidate is based on the increased efficiencies and is not related to the effects of COVID-19,” the news release said. “Food distributions through bishops’ storehouses and humanitarian deliveries to food banks across the nation have been uninterrupted during the pandemic due to the dedicated work of church employees and volunteers.”
The Murray facility is one of five church-owned and operated canneries based in the United States. The other facilities are in Harrisville, Welfare Square in Salt Lake City, Garden City, Idaho and Houston, Texas.
“Every year, the church distributes millions of pounds of food from its bishops’ storehouse system to provide relief to those in need,” the news release said. “This system is supported by a vast network of food production, processing and distribution facilities located throughout the United States and Canada.”
