Betagro, which has its headquarters in Betagro Tower, Bangkok, has a strong focus on the production of safe and hygienic pork. This includes very high health standards from early breeding until sales in supermarkets

Betagro Safety Meatpacking (BSM) plant in Lop Buri, about 150 km north of Bangkok, was opened in February 2004. This slaughter and primary processing plant is related to a network of Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) breeding and finishing technology, set up by Betagro and the Japanese company Sumitomo over ten years ago. The joint-venture was conceived to meet demands for high health products in Japan

This Japanese-Thai SPF approach poses special requirements to pig production: grandparent sows are culled after one litter, the aim to raise pigs with a low disease pressure (free of eg FMD, CSF) and there can be no antibiotic use during production

The HACCP slaughter plant in Lop Buri can handle 140 pigs/hour – and slaughters approximately 1,600 pigs/day. At the plant, just over 1,000 people are employed

Pigs are being trucked in from 600 pig farms in a 200 km radius around Lop Buri. Almost 60% of these farms raise pigs in accordance with the SPF method, the rest raises pigs as high hygiene pork. Each truck is fully documented and can be linked back to the farm

Monitoring the temperature of meat. At the slaughter plant, there is also a 100% post mortem inspection by veterinarians on several diseases, including atrophic rhinitis, Aujeszky’s Disease, swine dysentery, toxoplasmosis and brucellosis

Primary cutting. From the daily amount of pigs being trucked in, approximately 900 animals hail from SPF farms

In total, meat from about 500 pigs is cooked and destined for the Japanese market, where meat is sold as Chashu, Sliced Chashu, Buta Kakuni, Kushi Katsu and Tonkatsu

Meat from another 400 pigs is used for distribution on the Thai market. In Thailand, the meat is branded under the ‘S-Pure’ brand – healthy and health-conscious, aimed at the top-end of the market

The further processing and marketing of the high hygiene products, both in Thailand and Japan, is coordinated in a separate joint venture with Ajinomoto Foods