Canada-based protein products manufacturer Maple Leaf Foods announced Tuesday that work on a CAD$182 million (about $144 million) expansion project reached completion at its Winnipeg, MB prepared meats facility. Commissioning of the site is currently underway.

The company added 73,000 sq ft of space to the plant’s footprint and installed new equipment to meet increased demand for pre-cooked bacon. Following the project, Maple Leaf’s Winnipeg location will become the firm’s primary facility for pre-cooked bacon production.

“We are very excited to see this project come to life,” Michael H. McCain, president and CEO of Maple Leaf, said in a company release. “Our vision to become the most sustainable protein company on earth applies even to our vest best convenience food, which includes delicious pre-cooked bacon. This state-of-the-art facility will deliver sustainably made cooked bacon products from meat humanely raised and without antibiotics, made by a carbon neutral company. We are really proud of this.”

350 new jobs will be created as a result of the expansion, increasing the facility’s headcount to more than 1,900 workers.

Powder & Bulk Solids reported in June that Maple Leaf acquired a poultry processing plant near Schomberg, ON and its associated poultry supply.