April 13, 2004

CP Foods Lead The Way In Post Bird Flu Changes
 

With the bird flu outbreak in Thailand tapering to an end, Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF), one of the leading chicken producers in Thailand, can proudly boast that not a single chicken in their massive flock had been infected with the deadly H5N1 virus.

The Thai poultry industry was devastated by the emergence of bird flu in the country. The disease claimed many lives, several human and millions of poultry over the two month period since it was first reported in late January.

Thailand, the fourth largest poultry producer in the world, had virtually all its exports halted as country after country banned the import of Thai chicken over bird flu fears.

When the bird flu virus first appeared in Thailand, rumours were abound that CPF had contributed to the spread of the disease by trying to cover-up the outbreak. However, this could not be further from the truth.

Instead, the CPF's enclosed factory farms are, according to a Bangkok-based senior official of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization among the safest. Its birds are kept in giant warehouses, sequestered from birds believed to be carriers of the virus.

Back in November when rumours of the bird flu outbreak in Thailand first began, orders went out to seal up all of CPF's chicken plants by further restricting access to plant premises - even delivery trucks were kept out.

Early last month, CPF's poultry processing plants were among the first to gain approval from a quality-inspection team from Japan. Exports of heat-treated poultry were resume. Since then, CPF has geared its operations towards producing processed chickens for export.

"Fortunately, bird flu has created business opportunity for CPF as we have now focused on cooked products, particularly in Japan," Prasert Anuchiracheeva vice president of CP Merchandising Co said.

The company is scheduled to open new Bt8.5 billion integrated poultry-processing complex in June this year. The new plant will be located in Nakhon Ratchasima with total capacity of 86,000 tons per year.