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Foster Farms chicken plant closes again after cockroach cleanup

ASSOCIATED PRESS
A truck entered the Foster Farms processing plant, in Livingston, Calif. on Oct. 10, 2013. Foster Farms said Sunday it was closing the plant in Livingston for several days so it can properly implement new food safety measures.

LIVINGSTON, Calif. » A California chicken farm that reopened over the weekend after it was shut because of a cockroach infestation says it’s "voluntarily and temporarily" suspending operations again.

Foster Farms said Sunday it was closing the plant in Livingston for several days so it can properly implement new food safety measures. The company said in a statement that it is "exercising vigilance" and dedicating additional time to ensure its preventative plan is realized.

Work had resumed Saturday after Foster Farms announced that it met the demands of the U.S. Department of Agriculture by performing a thorough cleanup and treatment of the plant. The company says no chicken product was affected.

The plant closed Jan. 8 when inspectors found the cockroaches on five separate occasions in various parts of the plant over four months. That closure came three months after inspectors threatened a shutdown because of salmonella problems at the Livingston plant and two Foster Farms sites in Fresno.

Those facilities stayed open as the company agreed to improve safeguards. It also issued no recalls of products and instead advised consumers to handle chicken properly and to cook it thoroughly.

The company said in its statement on Sunday that maintenance workers will remain on the job during the voluntary closure. Other workers will be called back once full operations resume. The company also said it has temporarily shifted production to its other plants in California’s Central Valley. Foster Farms spokeswoman Karmina Zafiro declined to elaborate on the statement.

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