Marine Harvest Chile closes smokehouse

Christian Pérez Gianfranco Nattero, Director Sales & Marketing Americas at Marine Harvest, explained that this business unit has reached a loss levels that make operation economically unfeasible. Among other reasons, Mr Nattero commented that the sanitary crisis faced by the Chilean salmon industry some years ago seriously affected the supply and quality of the salmon they received in those years, while a recent 'microbiological event' worsened the financial situation of the company. Allegedly, the company is referring to those cases of smoked salmon potentially containing Listeria monocytogenes intended for the US market and which caused several voluntary recalls in December 2012. This smokehouse is expected to be closed next September and the company is already working on outplacements and training programmes with the 230 workers of that facility.