Kerry opens Asian Centre of Excellence for Meat

Kerry has recently opened an Asian Meat Centre of Excellence to help boost its customers value-added poultry, meat and seafood product creations.

The centre is located at its recently expanded Regional Development and Application Centre in Bangpoo, Thailand, and is said to be the first Centre of Excellence for Meat in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region.

Kerry said the new centre, which opened in March, leverages Kerry’s global knowledge of the meat industry, and offers customer a portfolio of technologies, according to the company.

The opening is part of a larger series of upgrades to the Bangpoo facility, all of which are designed to increase Kerry’s local innovation pipeline as well as its research and application capabilities.

The expanded facility now spans more than 8,500 square metres, and is equipped with the latest technologies for product development, from ideation to application and manufacturing, for a range of categories including meat, snacks, bakery, dairy and beverages.

“Thailand is a priority market and an important regional hub for many of our customers in South East Asia and beyond, so we’re delighted to be launching these new, world-class multi-application facilities in Bangpoo,” Kerry APMEA president & CEO John Savage said.

“Consumer food and beverage tastes are changing rapidly due to the region’s growing urban middle class and this is creating huge opportunities for the food and beverage sector.”

The expansion includes new facilities for food and beverage brands to develop savoury tastes and flavours using cooking methods such as smoke and grill.

Kerry's new application lab includes the latest Clean Smoke technology, enabling brands to experiment with using smoke condensate to add a signature taste and smoke profile to meat, vegetables, dessert and even beverages.

Additional down packing and blending lines double the centre’s production capacity and also provide food service customers with greater flexibility and efficiency in how their food products are packed.