ANHUI, China – Cargill's fully integrated poultry business is open for business in the city Lai'an, Anhui Province, China. An inauguration ceremony held Sept. 23 included dignitaries such as 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 and representatives from Chinese government agencies.

The company initiated the project in 2009, and nearly four years later is celebrating the opening of a world-class poultry production complex that covers each stage of the poultry supply chain. The operation includes chicken breeding, raising, feed production, hatching, slaughtering and processing capabilities at a cost of $250 million.


"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," Langholz said. "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 new operation benefitted from Cargill's expertise in food safety, poultry breeding, animal nutrition, environmental protection and sustainability, according to Cargill. The new facility has a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points program, and the company plans to implement environmentally friendly and energy efficiency management systems to comply with all applicable regulations in waste water treatment, waste disposal and emission control.

The facility can process approximately 65 million chickens per year, in addition to 176,000 tonnes of poultry products per year. Roughly 4,000 workers will be employed at the facility in the next few years.