BBC News
By Elaine Mitchell
image copyrightJohann Muldoon
image captionThe proposed factory will process cull sows, a process for which there is no dedicated facility in Northern Ireland
Plans have been submitted for a new £75m pork processing plant in Ballymoney, County Antrim.
The company behind the proposal is Bannside Foods - a new name in the pork industry.
The proposed site is the former home of the Lovell and Christmas bacon factory, which burned down in 1998.
The proposed factory will process cull sows - there is no dedicated facility for that process in Northern Ireland.
Currently farmers have to export them to Britain, the Republic of Ireland or into Europe.
Plans have been submitted for a new £75m pork processing plant in Northern Ireland that will specialise in cull sows.
The company behind the proposed plant in Ballymoney, County Antrim, is Bannside Foods, a new name in the pork industry, the BBC reports. The proposed site is the former home of the Lovell and Christmas bacon factory, which burned down in 1998.
There is no dedicated facility for cull sows in Northern Ireland, with farmers currently having to send them to Britain, the Republic of Ireland or into Europe.
Planning proposals have been submitted to Causeway Coast and Glens Council, with a 12-week public consultation on the plans underway.
Bannside Foods to build pork factory
A proposal of application notice has been submitted to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council for planning to build a new pork-processing facility at the site of the old Lovell and Christmas factory at Agivey near Ballymoney in Co Antrim.
The Lovell and Christmas facility was destroyed by fire in 1998, and led to a major rationalisation in pig production in NI at that time.
The new facility will operate under the name Bannside Foods at the Agivey with the project understood to involve prominent Irish pig producers.
The proposed £75m investment is expected to create up to 400 jobs.