Bangkok--23 Feb--CPF
As the world is shifting the focus to consumers' health and wellness, Thai poultry industry has to adopt the new identity as a high quality poultry producer by pushing its food safety and animal welfare practices to meet the global standard.
The industry, best known for its competitive price, has been trying hard to revamp its image in food business with a special focus on food quality and safety.
The turning point of Thai poultry business was in 2004 when Thailand lost its key markets due to the outbreak of bird flu. Since then, the industry has pay more attention to disease control and quality issue.
Private sector played an important role in the industry revival. They realized that hygiene and best biosecurity practices were the solution. Good chicken housing system was the area that gained significant improvement. For example, evaporative air cooling systems (EVAP), a system to control the environment within farming area, are installed by major companies such as Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods) to prevent the risk of the outbreak.
Furthermore, poultry producers have work together with the government and farmers to improve food safety standard. The top priority is to ensure that the products are not safe from antibiotics residue, growth hormone and other drugs used to treat animals.
Poultry expert, Dr.Payungsak Somyanontanakul, Vice President of CP Foods, said Thai Government strictly prohibits the use of substance in animal such as Hexoestrol which is a growth-enhancement hormone. Therefore it is impossible to have chemical residue left over in chicken meat since it is illegal in the country." He added.
CP Foods, a leading chicken producer in Thailand with 30% market share, recently announced global policy on responsible antimicrobials use. The policy is now implemented by all of its units globally.
"The policy demonstrates our leadership in food business and commitment to food quality and safety. As antimicrobials misuse is becoming global threat, the company is taking proactive role as one of the food industry leaders to minimize the risk of antimicrobials resistance. Share-class Antimicrobials are used prudently under strict supervision from veterinarians." Dr.Payungsak said.
It also implements good animal welfare practice to improve the health of the chicken instead of using feed addictive.
"At CP Foods, we believes that keeping chicken in a healthy and happy state can prevent the animal from getting sick, and therefore, less chance of using antimicrobial." He added.
The industry's attempt has been very successful so far since it has not been affected by any serious incident for over a decade.
Nowadays, the standard of Thai poultry has finally regained confidence from many major markets in the world such as the European Union and Japan.
In the previous year, Thai poultry business enjoys stellar success in the chicken exporting business. The country exported 790,000 tons with valued at US$3.05 billion, making it the fourth largest poultry exporter in the world.