Cal-Maine egg complex in Georgia damaged by fire

JACKSON — Cal-Maine Foods Inc. announced that its egg complex in Shady Dale, Ga., was damaged by a fire June 28.

Cal-Maine said the loss is fully insured, including the loss of production.

The fire destroyed one of the 12 layer houses, with additional loss of laying hens at three adjoining houses due to smoke inhalation. There were no personal injuries sustained and no physical damage to the rest of the complex.

An investigation is underway to determine the origin of the fire.

The Shady Dale facility includes a processing plant, feed mill, three pullet houses and 12 layer houses. Approximately 200,000 laying hens were lost due to the fire and represent less than 1 percent of the company’s production capacity. The company will cover customer orders from its other facilities.

Fred Adams, chairman and CEO of Cal-Maine, said, “The fire occurred in a layer house that was not occupied at the time due to a normal bird-replacing cycle. We are very fortunate that there were no personal injuries sustained and no damage to our processing plant in Shady Dale. At this time, we are still assessing the total extent of the damage caused by this accident. We believe the fire will have minimal financial impact on our operations and do not expect any disruption to our customers’ deliveries.”