Hilton Foods Australia opens $189m meat production facility

Hilton Foods Australia, a meat processing joint venture (JV) of the UK’s Hilton Food Group and Australia’s Woolworths Group, has opened its A$280m ($189m) meat production facility in Heathwood, Queensland.

The new facility will supply meat products to more than 450 Woolworths stores located between New South Wales (NSW) and the Far North Queensland region.

Hilton Foods Australia CEO Pat McEntee said: “We are proud to be joining the local community in Heathwood and contributing to economic growth with new employment opportunities and service contracts.

“We value our partnership with Woolworths and look forward to assisting in developing a faster and fresher supply of high-quality meat and value-added products.

“We also wish to acknowledge and thank both the Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government for their support in commissioning our Heathwood site.”

The Heathwood facility is equipped with advanced technology that has been designed to maintain the consistency and quality of fresh red meat. It also features a rooftop photovoltaic (PV) solar installation, which generates clean energy that will meet 50% of the facility’s energy needs.

The new facility will be capable of producing 1,500t of fresh red meat every week and supplying it to Woolworths stores. It will operate alongside Hilton Foods Australia’s existing meat processing facilities, located in Melbourne and Perth, and is expected to create 650 new employment opportunities in the Queensland region.

Woolworths Fresh Food director Paul Harker said: “Hilton Foods Australia is a valued supply partner processing high-quality fresh meat for our customers across Australia.

“The opening of this state-of-the-art facility in Heathwood will help us deliver a consistently great fresh meat offer and improved stock availability for our Queensland customers.”