(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cyberattack a $23 million hit on Maple Leaf ledger

Company refused to pay ransom

Last fall’s ransomware attack at pork and poultry packer Maple Leaf Foods led to an “adverse economic impact” of $23 million or more on the company’s bottom line as it worked to restore systems, officials said. The company on Thursday released that estimate as part of its fourth-quarter financial report, in which it booked a […] Read more

(File photo by Dave Bedard)

Cybersecurity ‘incident’ hits Maple Leaf systems

Grocery firm Empire also dealing with IT grief

Some information technology (IT) systems at Canadian pork and poultry packer Maple Leaf Foods have been downed in what the company described Monday as a “cybersecurity incident.” The company said in a release Monday that it “took immediate action and engaged cybersecurity and recovery experts” when it learned of the problem, and its in-house and […] Read more


File photo of signage outside Maple Leaf Foods’ Lagimodiere Boulevard plant in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Expansions boost Maple Leaf plant’s bacon offerings

Pre-cooked bacon capability sets up Winnipeg plant as 'bacon centre of excellence'

The Winnipeg pork further-processing plant previously earmarked as Maple Leaf Foods’ “ham centre of excellence” now gets the same billing for bacon. The major Toronto meat processor announced Tuesday it had completed a $182 million, 73,000-square foot expansion at its Lagimodiere Boulevard prepared meats plant, to “significantly” increase its bacon production capacity. The expansion, Maple […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Maple Leaf takes up Ontario poultry plant

Option exercised on Cericola Farms' remaining facility

A southern Ontario processing plant specializing in organic and antibiotic-free poultry products has gone to Maple Leaf Foods in a postscript to a previous sale. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Friday it had closed its purchase of the Sure Fresh Foods poultry plant at Schomberg, Ont., about 30 km north of Vaughan, for an undisclosed sum, […] Read more


(Maple Leaf Foods photo via Facebook)

Quebec poultry packer to shut ex-Maple Leaf plant

Giannone to close Drummondville facility

The new owner of an antibiotic-free poultry processing plant in the Centre-du-Quebec region is set to shut the plant next week after a “thorough review” of its condition. Volaille Giannone announced Friday it will close the former Avicomax plant at Drummondville effective Nov. 6, after having bought it from Maple Leaf Foods in July for […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

Maple Leaf poultry plant shuts for ‘deep cleaning’

COVID-19 found in three workers at Brampton facility

One of two Maple Leaf Foods plants at Brampton, Ont. has gone into shutdown mode for “deep cleaning” in the wake of three cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus among its workers. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Wednesday that operations at the company’s Kennedy Road poultry slaughter and packing plant in Brampton are suspended “while we complete […] Read more

(PortOfHalifax.ca)

Ottawa expected to ‘officially’ declare ag an essential service

The Western Grain Elevator Association says that designation will clarify things and help to keep grain moving

Canada’s grain industry expects the federal government will soon officially declare agriculture an essential service. Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), says that designation will have a practical application. “Hopefully it ends all confusion about grain workers at elevators, railway workers and anybody else required for moving grain, as to […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Maple Leaf lands ‘sustainability-linked’ credit

Canadian food processor Maple Leaf Foods is taking its recently-established sustainability cred to the bank. The Toronto food firm announced Wednesday it’s the first Canadian company to secure “sustainability-linked terms” for its credit facilities. Specifically, the company has picked up an unsecured committed revolving line of credit and two unsecured committed term facilities for a […] Read more