Food manufacturers across the U.S. have been reshaping operations as bankruptcies and asset sales continue to hit legacy brands. In California, that pressure has now landed in Modesto, where Del Monte Foods permanently shut its longtime fruit processing plant. The closure became official on April 7, 2026, and ended production at a facility tied to the Central Valley for more than 100 years.
Del Monte makes the closure official
Del Monte Foods permanently closed its Modesto fruit processing plant on April 7, 2026, eliminating 765 jobs, according to the company’s WARN notices and bankruptcy-related timeline. The shutdown made the site one of California’s largest food manufacturing layoff events of 2026 based on the reported total. Employee separations were scheduled to begin in early April as the cannery wound down operations.
The Modesto facility had processed peaches, pears and apricots for decades as one of the region’s major canning sites. Union officials said earlier in 2026 that the closure would hit about 600 year-round workers along with hundreds of seasonal employees. By the time the plant officially closed in April, the total number of layoffs stood at 765.
What the closure means in Modesto
The confirmed impact is centered in Modesto, where the plant had long operated as a major local employer and buyer of Central Valley fruit. The 765 layoffs are the clearest verified figure tied to the shutdown. The plant remains closed following the bankruptcy sale process.
What is not yet publicly detailed is a full breakdown of which departments or job types made up all 765 affected positions. Del Monte has not released a comprehensive public list of individual Modesto roles tied to the closure. The broader concern in Stanislaus County is that the effects may extend beyond the plant workforce because local growers also supplied fruit to the facility.
Bankruptcy led to the shutdown
The timeline began on July 1, 2025, when Del Monte Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while seeking a buyer for its business. As that process moved forward, the company announced in January 2026 that the Modesto cannery would close because no purchaser agreed to continue operating the facility. That decision set the April shutdown in motion…