Birds Eye closing NY plant, moving jobs to Minn., Wis.

The parent company of Birds Eye says it will close its vegetable processing plant in central New York and move operations to facilities in the upper Midwest.

Pinnacle Foods Group announced Friday morning that it will close the Fulton plant at the end of the year. The company didn't say how many people work there, but Syracuse media outlets say the plant employs about 250 union workers and 30 in management positions.

Pinnacle says it's closing the Fulton plant to cut the cost of transporting vegetables from the Midwest. Processing operations will be consolidated into facilities at Darien, Wis., and Waseca, Minn.

Birds Eye was acquired in December 2009 by Cherry Hill, N.J.-based Pinnacle.

Pinnacle closed Birds Eye's corporate headquarters in Rochester last year and moved it to New Jersey.

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