A £13 million extension to the Moy Park poultry processing plant has been officially opened in Dungannon. The extension is part of the company's £31 million investment which has created 350 jobs.

Moy Park, owned since May 1996 by the Chicago-based company OSI Industries, employs around 3,000 people. It has a factory in Southport, Lancashire, employing 300. Another 400 are employed in northern France, where it has a joint venture with France's second-biggest poultry processing company, Bourgoin. The money has also been used to reorganise production at the company's other plants at Craigavon, Moira and Coolhill, also near Dungannon. At Craigavon, £11.4 million has been spent on processing, freezing and chilling equipment, and the introduction of additional products. In Moira, £1.5 million has been spent on refurbishment, while at Coolhill, £2.2 million has gone into automated equipment. The investment, being supported by a grant of a little more than £8 million from the IDB, is also estimated to have secured an existing 800 jobs in areas such as animal feeds, packaging and transport.