United States-Confusion over sale of meat plant.

UNITED STATES-MEAT PLANT DEAL BEING DOWN PLAYED.

Triumph Foods downplayed a report linking it to a packing plant in Illinois .

Alan Guebert, a national agribusiness columnist, wrote a column suggesting Triumph Foods would buy the Meadowbrook Farms plant in Rantoul , Ill. The cooperative filed for bankruptcy to liquidate all its assets.

The idea is just speculation, said Patt Lilly, chief administrative officer of Triumph Foods in St. Joseph .

"I would guess any number of people might be in that realm of speculation," Mr. Lilly said.

Mr. Guebert said Meadowbrook is trying to negotiate for Triumph to buy the plant for $10 million. He said it might replace Triumph’s plans to build a plant in East Moline , Ill.

Last year, Triumph put plans for its second plant on hold because of the slow economy. Mr. Lilly said Triumph still hopes to built the plant at some time, but has no definite plans to move forward.

"Meadowbrook’s idled Rantoul plant, about 150 miles southeast of East Moline, might offer Triumph a cheaper, smaller, interim alternative," Mr. Guebert wrote.

The Meadowbrook plant, which slaughtered just 4,000 hogs per day, is quite a bit smaller than Triumph’s 19,000 daily capacity.

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