Another US Food Processing Plant Erupts In Flames

Another food processing plant went up in flames. According to local news Stevens Point Journal, a fire ripped through a pizza-making plant in Wisconsin on Monday. 

More than 70 firefighters from multiple fire departments battled a massive fire at Festive Foods in eastern Portage County that began around 0900 local time. The American Red Cross arrived on the scene shortly after to provide food and water to firefighters. They snapped two pictures of the blaze, showing flames erupting from the facility’s roof and a column of thick dark smoke pouring into the air. 

Waupaca manufacturing fire: Red Cross disaster volunteers are canteening for more than 70 firefighters & first responders on the scene of a large manufacturer fire on County Highway D. Additional details here as they’re available. pic.twitter.com/HdTT1vvLK1

— American Red Cross of Wisconsin (@RedCrossWIS) June 13, 2022

Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control in the early evening, and damage to the food processing plant has yet to be fully assessed. However, Festive Foods’ Facebook page indicates the plant is “temporarily closed.” 

“Today festive foods experienced a heartbreaking event. As many of you have seen in the news we have had a terrible fire run through our plant,” a post on Festive Foods’ Facebook read. 

Festive Foods manufactures frozen pizzas for supermarkets in a 120,000 sq. feet facility and considers itself a “leading co-packer of USDA-certified frozen-topped pizza, sandwiches, dough products, and stuffed appetizers.” The company sells its products to supermarkets nationwide. 

Walmart is a seller of at least one of the company’s brands. 

While the fire seems insignificant, it’s part of a much larger issue of a spate of “accidental fires,” one by one, taking out America’s food supply chain over the past year (source of the list via The Gateway Pundit): 

1. 1/11/21 A fire that destroyed 75,000-square-foot processing plant in Fayetteville
2. 4/30/21 A fire ignited inside the Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Monmouth, IL
3. 7/25/21 Three-alarm fire at Kellogg plant in Memphis, 170 emergency personnel responded to the call
4. 7/30/21 Firefighters on Friday battled a large fire at Tyson’s River Valley Ingredients plant in Hanceville, Alabama
5. 8/23/21 Fire crews were called to the Patak Meat Production company on Ewing Road in Austell
6. 9/13/21 A fire at the JBS beef plant in Grand Island, Neb., on Sunday night forced a halt to slaughter and fabrication lines
7.  10/13/21 A five-alarm fire ripped through the Darigold butter production plant in Caldwell, ID
8. 11/15/21 A woman is in custody following a fire at the Garrard County Food Pantry
9. 11/29/21 A fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. at the Maid-Rite Steak Company meat processing plant
10. 12/13/21 West Side food processing plant in San Antonio left with smoke damage after a fire
11. 1/7/22 Damage to a poultry processing plant on Hamilton’s Mountain following an overnight fire
12. 1/13/22 Firefighters worked for 12 hours to put a fire out at the Cargill-Nutrena plant in Lecompte, LA
13. 1/31/22 a fertilizer plant with 600 tons of ammonium nitrate inside caught on fire on Cherry Street in Winston-Salem
14. 2/3/22 A massive fire swept through Wisconsin River Meats in Mauston
15. 2/3/22 At least 130 cows were killed in a fire at Percy Farm in Stowe
16. 2/15/22 Bonanza Meat Company goes up in flames in El Paso, Texas
17. 2/15/22 Nearly a week after the fire destroyed most of the Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston
18. 2/16/22 A fire had broken at US largest soybean processing and biodiesel plant in Claypool, Indiana
19. 2/18/22 An early morning fire tore through the milk parlor at Bess View Farm
20. 2/19/22 Three people were injured, and one was hospitalized, after an ammonia leak at Lincoln Premium Poultry in Fremont
21. 2/22/22 The Shearer’s Foods plant in Hermiston caught fire after a propane boiler exploded
22. 2/28/22 A smoldering pile of sulfur quickly became a raging chemical fire at Nutrien Ag Solutions
23. 2/28/22 A man was hurt after a fire broke out at the Shadow Brook Farm and Dutch Girl Creamery
24. 3/4/22 294,800 chickens destroyed at farm in Stoddard, Missouri
25. 3/4/22 644,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
26. 3/8/22 243,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in New Castle, Delaware
27. 3/10/22 663,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, MD
28. 3/10/22 915,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Taylor, IA
29. 3/14/22 The blaze at 244 Meadow Drive was discovered shortly after 5 p.m. by farm owner Wayne Hoover
30. 3/14/22 2,750,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Jefferson, Wisconsin
31. 3/16/22 A fire at a Walmart warehouse distribution center has cast a large plume of smoke visible throughout Indianapolis.
32. 3/16/22 Nestle Food Plant extensively damaged in fire and new production destroyed Jonesboro, Arkansas
33. 3/17/22 5,347,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Buena Vista, Iowa
34. 3/17/22 147,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Kent, Delaware
35. 3/18/22 315,400 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Cecil, Maryland
36. 3/22/22 172,000 Turkeys destroyed on farms in South Dakota
37. 3/22/22 570,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
38. 3/24/22 Fire fighters from numerous towns are battling a major fire at the McCrum potato processing facility in Belfast.
39. 3/24/22 418,500 chickens destroyed at farm in Butler, Nebraska
40. 3/25/22 250,300 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Franklin, Iowa
41. 3/26/22 311,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
42. 3/27/22 126,300 Turkeys destroyed in South Dakota
43. 3/28/22 1,460,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Guthrie, Iowa
44. 3/29/22 A massive fire burned 40,000 pounds of food meant to feed people in a food desert near Maricopa
45. 3/31/22 A structure fire caused significant damage to a large portion of key fresh onion packing facilities in south Texas
46. 3/31/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Osceola, Iowa
47. 3/31/22 5,011,700 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Osceola, Iowa
48. 4/6/22 281,600 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
49. 4/9/22 76,400 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
50. 4/9/22 208,900 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
51. 4/12/22 89,700 chickens destroyed at farm in Wayne, North Carolina
52. 4/12/22 1,746,900 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Dixon, Nebraska
53. 4/12/22 259,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Minnesota
54. 4/13/22 fire destroys East Conway Beef & Pork Meat Market in Conway, New Hampshire
55. 4/13/22 Plane crashes into Gem State Processing, Idaho potato and food processing plant
56. 4/13/22 77,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
57. 4/14/22 Taylor Farms Food Processing plant burns down Salinas, California.
58. 4/14/22 99,600 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
59. 4/15/22 1,380,500 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Lancaster, Minnesota
60. 4/19/22 Azure Standard nation’s premier independent distributor of organic and healthy food, was destroyed by fire in Dufur, Oregon
61. 4/19/22 339,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
62. 4/19/22 58,000 chickens destroyed at farm in Montrose, Color
63. 4/20/22 2,000,000 chickens destroyed at egg farm in Minnesota
64. 4/21/22 A small plane crashed in the lot of a General Mills plant in Georgia
65. 4/22/22 197,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
66. 4/23/22 200,000 Turkeys destroyed in Minnesota
67. 4/25/22 1,501,200 chickens destroyed at egg farm Cache, Utah
68. 4/26/22 307,400 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
69. 4/27/22 2,118,000 chickens destroyed at farm Knox, Nebraska
70. 4/28/22 Egg-laying facility in Iowa kills 5.3 million chickens, fires 200-plus workers
71. 4/28/22 Allen Harim Foods processing plant killed nearly 2M chickens in Delaware
72. 4/2822 110,700 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
73. 4/29/22 1,366,200 chickens destroyed at farm Weld Colorado
74. 4/30/22 13,800 chickens destroyed at farm Sequoia Oklahoma
75. 5/3/22 58,000 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
76. 5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Beadle S Dakota
77. 5/3/22 114,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
78. 5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Lyon Minnesota
79. 5/7/22 20,100 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
80. 5/10/22 72,300 chickens destroyed at farm Lancaster Pennsylvania
81. 5/10/22 61,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
82. 5/10/22 35,100 Turkeys destroyed Muskegon, Michigan
83. 5/13/22 10,500 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin
84. 5/14/22 83,400 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
85. 5/17/22 79,00 chickens destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
86. 5/18/22 7,200 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
87. 5/19/22 Train carrying limestone derailed Jensen Beach FL
88. 5/21/22 57,000 Turkeys destroyed on farm in Dakota Minnesota
89. 5/23/22 4,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
90. 5/29/22 A Saturday night fire destroyed a poultry building at Forsman Farms
91. 5/31/22 3,000,000 chickens destroyed by fire at Forsman facility in Stockholm Township, Minnesota
92. 6/2/22 30,000 ducks destroyed at Duck farm Berks Pennsylvania
93. 6/7/22 A fire occurred Tuesday evening at the JBS meat packing plant in Green Bay.
94. 6/8/22 Firefighters from Tangipahoa Fire District 1 respond to a fire at the Purina Feed Mill in Arcola
95. 6/9/22 Irrigation water was canceled in California (the #1 producer of food in the US) and storage water flushed directly out to the delta.
96. 6/12/22 Largest Pork Company in the US Shuts Down California Plant Due to High Costs
97. 6/13/22 Fire Breaks Out at a Food Processing Plant West of Waupaca County in Wisconsin