Cargill is strengthening its Fresh Chicken Strategy with a new UK chiller plant

By Frazer Jones

May 17, 2020

undefined mins

Cargill is focusing heavily on growth in Europe right now. To help strengthen that growth, the global food processing giant has launched a new chiller p...

Cargill is focusing heavily on growth in Europe right now. To help strengthen that growth, the global food processing giant has launched a new chiller plant in Hereford, UK. The business asserts that this new plant will play a major role in Cargill increasing the quality and safety of its products in Europe.

According to a new report from Food Production Daily, the new plant boasts cutting edge technology that will put it above and beyond its competition in the UK:

Cargill has opened a European chiller plant in Hereford, UK, enhancing its quality and food safety and says it is the first processor in the UK to introduce Robotics packing, which can process up to 240 breast fillets per minute.

The plant is a part of a larger £35 million Fresh Chicken Strategy, which Cargill will deploy across the next three years and will develop a stronger and more sustainable supply chain to bring more fresh UK-raised chicken to UK and European consumers. Through fully automated cutting and deboning techniques, it is reported that the plant has the capability to process up to 10,000 chickens per hour—meaning more chicken for consumers without sacrificing accuracy or food safety standards.

Why did Cargill choose the UK for its state-of-the-art new facility serving the European market? For one thing, chicken is in major demand in the UK—according to various data, chicken consumption in the UK is increasing every year, and The British Poultry Council has stated that one out of every two meals in the UK features chicken. John Reed, agricultural director for Cargill’s European Chicken business, told Food Production Daily that there is a growing demand for domestically raised chicken over imports from overseas—a demand borne of a desire for quality standards and traceability—and that this new facility will help Cargill meet the strict standards that its consumers demand.

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