Nicholas Meat resumes production as farm fields free of snow

LOGANTON, PA – Operations have resumed at Nicholas Meat LLC after differences with the state Department of Environmental Production caused the Loganton area slaughterhouse to temporarily shut down.

A Nicholas spokesman confirmed Wednesday that meat processing resumed on March 3. The company had halted operations on Feb. 23. While employees remained at work, the company temporarily ended the slaughter of cattle because DEP said the company could not apply FPR (food processing residuals) to snow-covered fields.

With the fields snow-free, production resumed a week ago.

A company spokesman told PennLive that Nicholas’s more than 350 employees received training during the closure and were paid during the time they were off work.

“We continue to have discussions with the DEP and remain hopeful that we can find a workable solution,” said Brian Miller, director of sustainability at Nicholas.

DEP last week confirmed the state agency is working with Nicholas Meat to explore “all available options…the Department is open to discussing other options proposed by Nicholas Meat that may not be listed in the FPR manual.”

DEP last month issued permits to Nicholas Meat for the construction of a waste digester, which the state agency said is hoped to provide a long-term, sustainable solution.