
US-based seafood group Bumble Bee Foods is to look again at plans to build a processing facility on the Pacific island of Samoa.
The company, which last month saw its owner Lion Capital agree to a takeover offer from Thai seafood giant Thai Union Frozen Products, confirmed it will review plans for a plant that was expected to be up and running by the fourth quarter of the year.
“In light of Bumble Bee’s recent acquisition by Thai Union, the company plans to review its Samoa factory initiative with the new ownership group,” Bumble Bee CEO Chris Lischewski told just-food.
Meanwhile, the company has announced it is working with the Pacific Fishing Company in Levuka to build a new cold storage facility on the island of Fiji.
The new facility will replace the present cold storage site and is expected to increase efficiency while lowering energy costs.
Lischewski said: “Bumble Bee has a long standing relationship with PAFCO in Fiji that spans more than 15 years. We are pleased to be supporting them in their factory modernisation initiative that will include the construction of a new cold store.”