Riverside-based Swift Beef Co., a unit of a global food processing giant from Brazil, plans to permanently lay off 374 workers at its Riverside meat processing factory by early February.
Swift’s parent JBS USA Food Co. plans to invest more than $785 million in new plants outside of California.
Nikki Richardson, a spokeswoman with Greeley, Colo.-based JBS USA, said in a statement issued to the Southern California News Group that the closure of the “case ready production facility” in Riverside is part of an initiative to simplify operations across its network.
A case ready facility for beef is a centralized plant that converts large cuts of meat into smaller, consumer-sized portions such as steaks, roasts and ground beef. The finished products are weighed, labeled and packaged in retail trays, ready to be placed in refrigerated supermarket display cases.
Earlier this year, JBS announced investment projects in Colorado, including $50 million to upgrade the Greeley beef packing plant with a new distribution center, $400 million in LaFayette, Georgia, for a new prepared foods facility, $135 million in Perry, Iowa, to build a new facility capable of producing 130 million pounds of sausage annually, and $200 million in Cactus, Texas, and Greeley beef production facilities.
JBS USA is a unit of JBS S.A. in Brazil, the world’s largest beef and pork processor, with more than $77 billion in sales in 2024.
Production for customers buying from the Riverside facility will be transitioned to other JBS facilities, Richardson said. That switch began last week and is expected to conclude by early next year.
The permanent layoffs in Riverside are to be completed by Feb. 2, Richardson wrote in a Dec. 3 letter filed with the state’s Employment Development Department.
The filing was made as part of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act — commonly referred to as WARN — which are required when an employer lays off more than 50 employees. All affected employees are notified at least 60 days before their terminations are scheduled to occur, according to Richardson.
“JBS is committed to supporting impacted team members through this transition,” Richardson said. “Opportunities will be made available at other JBS facilities, including relocation support for those interested. Team members who do not have the opportunity or desire to relocate are eligible for a 60-day notice period, and incentives will be offered to those who remain through the completion of the transition.”
She said that the layoffs come as her company strengthens its “operational footprint to meet evolving market demands.”
The beef industry is seeing higher meat prices in groceries because of tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration, which have led to higher overhead costs for feed, fuel and labor. Beef processors also have been losing millions of dollars with shrinking cattle herds driving livestock prices higher. These cumulative effects pushed prices higher at the grocery store and at restaurants.
JBS also has had a run in with the U.S. Department of Labor over labor violations.
In January, JBS USA Food Co. agreed to provide $4 million to assist individuals and communities affected by unlawful child labor practices nationwide. In the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2024, labor department investigators found more than 4,000 children had been employed in violation of federal child labor laws.
