The international meat and food processing firm is spending money on a plant in southeast Asia to update its food safety system, installing more efficient equipment and expanding its cold storage division.
“The upgrades are part of our ongoing efforts to improve the overall efficiency of our facilities and to continuously improve our food safety systems and processes,” said Prasit Maekwatana, president, Cargill Thailand .
“We are always looking for ways to grow with our customers in this important region.”
Second plant to get an upgrade
The plant in Saraburi, Thailand, produces cooked poultry products for food service chains, convenience stores, food manufacturers, retailers and distributors across Asia, Europe and North America.
It’s the second plant to get an upgrade after the company completed a $110m expansion of another poultry processing facility in Korat, Thailand.
Speaking to FoodProductionDaily.com Maekwatana would not reveal what types of machinery are being installed at the plant but he said Cargill is one of Thailand’s largest exporters of cooked poultry products and operational efficiency is critical to its business.
Looking to improve energy efficiency
“The fully-integrated design of our poultry operations combined with a skilled, motivated workforce makes our Thailand poultry business highly efficient, but we continue to seek ways to improve our energy efficiency, reduce water usage and improve the overall efficiency of our supply chain,” he said.
Together the facilities, which employ over 12,000 people, have an annual production capacity of 80,000 metric tons.
They are part of an integrated poultry supply chain that includes breeder facilities, hatcheries, feed mills, pullet and grow out farms, processing plants and a product development facility.