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Calif. Chicken Plant Reopens after Cockroach Infestation

A California chicken processing plant resumed operations after shutting down for two weeks to combat a cockroach infestation. Foster Farms in Livingston said it called its employees back to work after taking all necessary measures to clean the plant.

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, file photo, a truck enters the Foster Farms processing plant, in Livingston, Calif. The plant that reopened the second weekend of January after it was shut because of a cockroach infestation says Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, it's "voluntarily and temporarily" suspending operations again. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A Central California chicken processing plant has resumed operations after shutting down for two weeks to combat an infestation of cockroaches.

Foster Farms in Livingston said Wednesday it had called its employees back to work after ensuring all necessary measures were taken to properly clean the plant.

Inspectors for the U.S. Department of Agriculture closed the plant Jan. 8 after finding cockroaches on five separate occasions over four months. That closure came three months after inspectors threatened a shutdown because of salmonella problems at the Livingston plant and two Foster Farms sites in Fresno.

Foster Farms issued no product recalls as a result of those problems, but advised consumers to handle chicken properly and cook it thoroughly.