Japan clears eight Thai plants for chicken meat export
Eight Thai meat-processing plants have secured approval from Japan to export cooked chicken meat, the Department of Livestock Development said on Friday.
The department’s deputy director-general, Sophat Chawalkul, said Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had sent five officials to inspect eight plants in Thailand since September 4. At the end of the inspection, all eight factories met Japan’s quality standards for cooked chicken meat. Two of them are existing exporters whose approvals have been extended, while six plants are newly certified.
“The department thanks all parties for their efforts in improving the standard of Thailand’s meat products in terms of quality and safety. We will take all suggestions made by the Japanese inspectors into consideration to further improve the country’s meat production and processing industry,” said Sophat.
The department expects eight more factories to be certified by Japan. Total export of meat products to Japan will exceed last year's figures in both volume and value, he said.
In 2021, Thailand exported 461.2 million tonnes of meat products to Japan, valued at 58.76 billion baht. In the seven months of 2022, more than 267.65 million tonnes have already been shipped to Japan, valued at 37.7 billion baht.
