Two hundred and forty workers were sent home on August 8, but Alliance Group processing manager Kerry Stevens said they would now be recalled to the plant as it geared up for the Christmas chilled lamb programme for Europe and the United Kingdom.
Mr Stevens said the Alliance Group was still awaiting confirmation from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) that Pukeuri's certification to export to China has been reinstated, but that the plant had passed an audit undertaken by MPI.
''The MPI audit has provided confidence that the changes we have implemented are robust and that the certification issue is close to being resolved.
''In the meantime, Alliance Group needs to start working towards the Christmas demand from Europe and UK for our chilled lamb so processing at Pukeuri will resume.
''It is unfortunate that we had to temporarily cease sheep and lamb operations and we regret that this situation occurred and its impact on our employees.
''We have worked hard to resolve this situation to ensure our employees could come back to work at the earliest opportunity.''
Processing of sheep and lamb would recommence on September 17, Mr Stevens said.
MPI suspended the plant's certification for China twice in July, because incorrectly labelled cartons and products from a facility not listed by Chinese authorities were mistakenly shipped to China.
However, Mr Stevens said the company had implemented changes, including improved checks on labelling requirements.
Processing at Alliance Group's Smithfield plant in Timaru would also continue, he said.
