Nearly 180 workers will be laid off from a national meat processing giant as a local company looks to purchase its facilities.

Minnesota-based Cargill will lay off 178 workers from two plants in Fresno, according to the Employment Development Department of California.

The layoffs will be effective Aug. 4.

The notice comes weeks after Hanford-based Central Valley Meat Co. announced it would purchase the meat processing giant’s Fresno plants.

In a statement to GV Wire, Cargill said, “A WARN notice has been issued for 178 of the 900 Fresno employees who will not be retained by Central Valley Meats upon their purchase of Cargill’s plant. The affected employees will continue to receive pay and benefits for 60 days. We are sad to see the people impacts and are committed to providing support and resources, including severance packages and job search, application, and interview assistance for those affected.”

The California EDD requires businesses to notify the state of layoffs and furloughs under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

Related Story: Rapidly Growing Hanford Meat Company Buys Cargill Plant in Fresno

Cargill purchased the plant from Beef Packers Inc. in 2006. At that time, Cargill employed almost 1,000 workers at that plant, according to the company’s website. Workers there processed an average of 1,600 head of cattle per day.