Workers process chilled meat at the MEATDEli Saigon meat processing complex in Long An Province on a trial basis. The complex will be officially put into operation next month. — VNS Photo

MEATDeli Sai Gon Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Masan MEATLife, has completed construction of a meat processing plant in Long An Province and will commission it next month.

The MEATDeli Saigon plant, situated in the Tan Duc Industrial Park in Duc Hoa District, cost VND1.8 trillion (US$77.5 million).

It can process 140,000 tonnes of chilled pork annually in the first phase.

It can also produce 15,000 tonnes of processed meat products such as braised pork, pork rolls, shredded pork, and others.

The second phase will expand the capacity to 25,000 tonnes a year and enable production of 14,000 tonnes of pork by-products such as blood flour, plasma, collagen, and meat and bone powder.

The plant has modern equipment from Marel, a leading global supplier of advanced meat processing and slaughtering equipment from the Netherlands, and is considered the most modern meat processing and slaughtering facility in the country.

It has applied for the BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Standard for Food Safety and obtained HACCP certification for food safety.

It is directly run, supervised and tested by experienced European experts.

The plant is designed as a closed system with a sterile environment. Engineers and workers will always be required to wear masks, and wash their hands with alcohol to ensure safety.

The pork, after being processed, will be chilled quickly and packed using Oxy Fresh 9 technology to prevent the growth of bacteria.

To preserve the meat’s freshness, nutrition and taste and ensure hygiene, the pork will be maintained at temperatures of zero to four degrees Celsius during subsequent processing.

It will have a shelf life up to nine days.

In addition to the modern processing lines, the MEATDeli Saigon plant will also carefully control the source of pigs.

The pigs are sourced from associated farms at which they are being carefully selected and fed with bio-zeem technology in a closed raising process without growth hormones, antibiotics or other banned substances.

The adoption of a ‘three-layer quarantine’ control system (only healthy pigs will be allowed to enter the plant for slaughter, only healthy pigs will be processed at the plant and only safe pork will be sold from the factory) under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Food Safety Department will ensure the safety of MEATDeli pork when it reaches consumers.

Masan MEATLife introduced the officially certified MEATDeli chilled meat brand in 2018 following the commissioning of its first chilled meat processing plant in the northern province of Ha Nam.

It is the only branded chilled meat product in Viet Nam that meets the Global Standard for Food Safety established by the British Retailer Consortium.

According to Stefan Henn, Masan MeatLife’s R&D director and German master butcher and meat technologist, chilled pork meat has higher safety, consistent quality, better tenderness, meatier aroma, and longer shelf life and is easier to digest. — VNS