China's Zhongpin showcases new meat processing facility

Zhongpin Inc, a leading Chinese meat and food processing company, has showcased its standardised integrated meat processing model facility to a delegation composed of senior officials from the Tianjin Municipal Government.

Zhu Xianfu, chairman and CEO of Zhongpin, accompanied members of the Tianjin Municipal Government on the visit to the construction site of the company's new facility in the Jinghai Economic Technical Development Area, Tianjin City.

With Tianjin being the third largest city in China, the new production facility will meet the city's huge pork demand, encourage hog breeding and provide employment opportunities.

Zhongpin's new Tianjin facility will have an annual processed meat production capacity of 36,000 tonnes, chilled pork capacity of 70,000 tonnes and frozen pork capacity of 30,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, the facility's daily processed meat production capacity will account for about 20 percent of the overall consumption in the Tianjin market.

Besides the meat processing plant, the new facility includes a cold-chain logistics and distribution centre, a research and development centre, an inspection centre, an information technology centre and a training centre.

When the facility is operational in 2010, it will employ 1,800 workers and provide employment opportunities for more than 23,000 people in the upstream and downstream of the meat and processed food industry.