ST. LOUIS — A plant fire within the duct work of an oven in Pennsylvania and a water boil order in Iowa are expected to contribute to some service level issues and lost sales revenue at Post Holdings, Inc.
The May 24 fire took place at Post’s Michael Foods precooked egg facility in Klingerstown, Pa. While certain parts of the Klingerstown plant continue to operate, Post said some fire damage, which primarily was to the roof and electrical infrastructure in the oven area, is being repaired.
“As of June 1, partial production returned to the oven area,” Post noted in a June 5 update. “Other oven production areas are expected to progressively be brought back into service with completion expected by mid-July.”
Separately, Post has had to deal with a water boil order issued June 1 by the municipal water association servicing the company’s Lenox, Iowa, precooked egg facility. The boil order, which necessitated a shutdown of the facility, was still in effect as of June 5, Post said.
Post said its Michael Foods unit is working with water association officials and several government agencies to develop a plan that will enable the plant to restart operations. The company said it expects to restart partial operations on June 7 using a combination of heat treatment and water filtration. Normal municipal water service and full scale operations are not expected before June 11, the company said.
“Post management is in the process of assessing the financial impact of both incidents,” the company said. “While underlying egg product demand remains strong, the business disruption at the two facilities will result in some service level issues and ultimately lost sales revenue. These revenue losses will be mitigated to the extent possible by using existing product inventories, maximizing use of other precooked egg facility assets and collaborating with our customers.”