Cargill yesterday held the inauguration ceremony for its new integrated poultry operation based in Lai'an, Anhui province.
Several high ranking visitors attended the auguration, including Gary Locke, ambassador of the United States of America to China; Chris Langholz, president of Cargill Animal Protein China; Stan Ryan, corporate vice president of Cargill, along with representatives from Chinese government agencies.
The fully-integrated project covers each stage of the poultry supply chain, including chicken breeding, raising, feed production, hatching, slaughtering and processing. Cargill incorporated its state-of-the-art technologies and innovations in food safety, poultry breeding, animal nutrition, disease prevention, environmental protection and energy saving into the project. The facility has the capacity to process approximately 65 million chickens per year, as well as 176,000 metric tonnes poultry products per year. Total investment for the project is approximately US$250 million.
The feed mill, which has a designed production capacity of 360,000 tons per annum, is expected to be put into full operation in January 2014. The feed mill site totals an area ofapproximately 76.4 acres, with fixed asset investments totalling approximately CNY1 billion (USD$16 million).
The project, initiated in 2009, is a part of Cargill's continuous effort to support the modernization of agriculture and food safety in China. In this project, Cargill utilized its global expertise to build an integrated supply chain and food safety management system. Based on the Codex Alimentarius and ISO 22,000 principles, food safety systems include well written and implemented Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) programs supported by strong foundational programs such as sanitation for processing equipment, proper personal hygiene, pest control, maintenance, product labeling, traceability and other key programs implemented across the business.
Cargill also will apply innovative environmental and energy efficiency management systems that meet all applicable environment regulations in waste water treatment, waste disposal and emission control.
Gary Locke, the U.S. Ambassador to China commented, "Cargill's investment here in Anhui Province is a shining example of how U.S. – China agricultural cooperation can help China ensure that its people have a safe and reliable source of poultry, while simultaneously strengthening our bilateral economic and agricultural ties. I firmly believe that when our two countries are able to deepen our commercial partnerships, we can bring positive, long-term benefits to the consumers of both our countries."
"We are committed to being a valuable partner with the local poultry industry. We will utilize our global safety standards in food, employee safety and environmental management in China at the same levels we operate our business anywhere else in the world," said Chris Langholz, president of Cargill Animal Protein China. "We believe that applying our global expertise to local circumstances will help the industry and provide more confidence for Chinese consumers. We wish to thrive together with China and help ensure the sustainable growth of China's poultry industry."
The project will provide employment to around 4,000 people in the coming few years, which will boost the farmer incomes. During the past two years, Cargill has already donated two Cargill Cares Libraries and a water purification system to local Anhui schools. Cargill also has established Cargill classes to train local citizens in modern farming and agricultural management systems in three universities in Anhui province.
