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A food industry giant plans to open a $660-million plant in London that will bring nearly 1,500 jobs to the city.

Maple Leaf Foods will announce Tuesday it is opening a massive 60,000-square-metre facility on 40 hectares of land in the city, opening a poultry processing plant in 2020.

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“We are absolutely thrilled to attract an investment of this magnitude. London is a strong hub now for food processing and the addition of Maple Leaf puts us in a different category,” said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp. that worked with Maple Leaf for three years to get this investment.

London has more than 60 agri-food businesses employing about 7,000 workers, Lakhotia said.

Maple Leaf bought the land from the city and construction will begin in the spring. The plant will start production in 2021 and hire 1,450 workers.

Maple Leaf was drawn to London by the availability of land, proximity to poultry farms, skilled workers and the logistics of the city’s access to highways 401 and 402.