General Mills plans to cease operations at two U.S. plants employing some 500 workers in coming months.
The Minnesota food giant plans to close its facility in Vineland, N.J., home to 370 employees, by the first quarter of the 2018 fiscal year and shift its production to other U.S. facilities. General Mills officials said that the move would help eliminate excess soup capacity in its North American supply chain.
In addition, the company announced an agreement to sell its dry baking mix products plant in Martel, Ohio, to Mennel Milling Company, which would subsequently become a supplier to General Mills. About 180 employees currently work at the plant.
Both decisions are subject to change pending negotiations with union officials.
The company will also curb operations in Brazil and China as part of the "restructuring in its global supply chain."
About 420 employees will be impacted in Brazil, where General Mills will close a plant in Marília and transfer production from another in São Bernardo do Campo.
In China, more than 400 jobs will be cut after the company decided to stop producing Trix products in Nanjing and exit the fruit snacks business in the country entirely. The Nanjing plant will continue to produce Bugles snacks.
The approximately 1,400 affected jobs would add to the roughly 3,500 positions cut by General Mills since 2014 as consumers increasingly turn away from packaged foods.