ANHUI, CHINA — Cargill inaugurated its world-class integrated poultry operation in Lai’an Anhui, China on Sept. 23. 

Gary Locke, ambassador of the U.S. to China; Chris Langholz, president of Cargill Animal Protein China; Stan Ryan, corporate vice-president of Cargill, and representatives from Chinese government agencies participated in the ceremony.

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 tonnes poultry products per year. Total investment for the project is approximately $250 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.

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.