Cargill Protein announced that it is investing $4.2 million at its Columbia, S.C., plant to expand grinding capabilities for beef customers across the eastern U.S.

The investment includes precision grinding equipment that assures consistent, high-quality ground beef products for customers. Once installed in May 2018, the equipment will expand the plant's production by 15%, allowing the facility to produce enough ground beef to meet customer growth.

"Cargill purchased the Columbia facility in 2016, and today, we have more than 200 Columbia employees delivering high-quality beef to our U.S. customers. This investment shows our commitment to the beef industry in the eastern U.S. and allows us to deliver on the increasing needs of beef customers in the region through the installation of higher-performance production technologies," said John Keating, president, business operations and supply chain, Cargill Protein.

The investment is one more way Cargill is growing to meet the needs of its North American meat customers, according to the announcement.

Cargill Protein has invested approximately $850 million over the past two years across the U.S. and Canada, including $111 million to convert a cooked meats plant in Nebraska, $27 million to expand an egg processing facility in Michigan, $50 million for a distribution center at its Kansas beef plant, $146 million to expand a cooked meats facility in Tennessee, plus acquisitions of meat processing facilities in Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Headquartered in Wichita, Kan., Cargill Protein produces, distributes and markets beef, turkey, chicken and egg products to retail, foodservice and food ingredient companies throughout North America and exports meat and byproducts around the world. Cargill Protein, with 28,000 employees and more than three dozen protein processing facilities in the U.S. and Canada, is a unit of Minneapolis, Minn.-based Cargill Inc.