Japan officially imports Vietnamese chicken meat.

According to the Department of Animal Health (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), Japan officially agreed to import chicken meat from Vietnam from June 22nd.

Specifically, Japan has agreed to import poultry meat and processed poultry meat products from Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd., based in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, starting from June 22, 2017. The first batch of processed chicken breast products will be exported to the Japanese market, totaling 300 tons.

To achieve this result, since June 2016, the Department of Animal Health has provided support and guidance to Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd. in Dong Nai province to develop a "Project for the production of processed chicken meat in a closed-loop chain for export to the Japanese market," which was submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval.

The Department of Veterinary Medicine collaborated with Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd. to implement poultry disease surveillance and food safety monitoring programs; and to fulfill veterinary hygiene requirements for slaughterhouses and chicken processing plants exporting meat, as required by Japan.

Simultaneously, the Vietnam Department of Animal Health collaborated with Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd. to implement poultry disease surveillance and food safety monitoring programs; and to fulfill veterinary hygiene requirements for slaughterhouses and chicken processing plants exporting meat, as required by Japan.

For the first time, Vietnamese poultry meat has been officially allowed to be exported abroad, including to the Japanese market, one of the most demanding markets in the world.

The Japanese Veterinary Bureau sent a veterinary inspection team to Vietnam from May 29th to May 30th, 2017, to assess the processed chicken meat export production chain of Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd. The conclusion of the Japanese veterinary inspection team affirmed that Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd. meets all veterinary hygiene requirements for export to the Japanese market.

Previously, in March 2017, Koyu&Unitek Company inaugurated a new chicken processing plant to prepare for export to the Japanese market. The company invested $6 million in importing machinery and technology from Japan to build a plant with a processing capacity of 50,000 chickens per day. The plant's products include processed chicken products such as fried chicken, chicken burgers, and chicken nuggets, all meeting the standards for export to Japan.

Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd. is also the first enterprise in Vietnam to register and promote the export of chicken meat to the Japanese market. According to the Department of Animal Health, following Koyu & Unitek, at the end of May, CP Vietnam Livestock Co., Ltd. also registered to export processed chicken meat products to Japan.

The first batch of processed chicken breast products, totaling 300 tons, will be exported to the Japanese market.

In the coming period, the Department of Animal Health will continue to support and guide Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd. in registering for the export of processed chicken meat to the EU and other markets, and expanding Koyu & Unitek Co., Ltd.'s slaughterhouse and processing plant for export in the Southeast region. At the same time, it will guide and support other companies with the potential to export livestock and poultry meat to develop a "Closed-loop production and processing project," and build slaughterhouses and processing plants for exporting chicken meat to the Japanese market.

This marks the first time Vietnamese poultry meat has been officially exported abroad, specifically to the Japanese market, one of the most demanding markets in the world. This is also good news for Vietnamese businesses, as Vietnamese chicken meat can now be officially exported to a market considered to be very strict, with very high and stringent requirements for disease control and food safety compared to other countries in the region and around the world.

According to VOV