Poultry perfection Her-Csi-Hús

POULTRY PERFECTION

Her-Csi-Hús Kft was the first poultry processing company in Hungary to recognise that consumers want to be sure that all animals being raised for food are treated humanely. Since healthy top-quality animals are needed for food, proper treatment is not only an ethical obligation but also makes good business sense. Carefully formulated feed, adequate room to grow and proper handling are all import factors in the production of high quality poultry products. Edina Beale talks to managing director István Oláh to find out more.

Her-Csi-Hús Kft is the third largest poultry processing company in Hungary, currently holding a 10 per cent share of the domestic broiler chicken market. The company, which processes 13 million broiler chickens and produce 5000 tonnes of processed poultry products each year, is the number one supplier to the Spar and Metro group and to numerous Hungarian and international supermarket chains.

In 2008 Her-Csi-Hús recognised the importance of animal welfare when it comes to poultry production and started its broiler chicken production to fill the gap in the market. Broilers are raised indoors on litter such as wood shavings, peanut shells and rice hulls until they reach slaughter weight at seven to eight weeks of age. In this system chicken feed consists primarily of corn (60 per cent) with the addition of essential vitamins and minerals, and no hormones or steroids are permitted. Once all the necessary facilities and technological requirements were implemented to meet these needs, Her-Csi-Hús developed its Happy Chicken family range, which in 2012 won the prestigious Hungarian Quality Product Award. This award is recognised throughout Europe and is only awarded to those companies that are demonstrably committed to quality issues in their production activities.

More recently, Her-Csi-Hús has developed a new range of fresh precooled products under its Happy Chicken brand. These new products include sliced meat products and a new poultry hot dog sausage with a sheep intestine skin, due for launch later this year. As with most things timing is everything and the new hot dog will be launched at the end of December this year, since hot dogs are a traditional New Year’s Eve food item in Hungary.

Increasing exports

Her-Csi-Hús has great ambitions to significantly increase its share of the broiler chicken market over the next five years. In recent years it has refined its domestic market, enabling it to explore the possibilities of the export markets. These efforts have resulted in an increase of exports from

10 to 22 per cent. The main markets include Germany, Switzerland, Romania and Slovenia. In the near future the company aims to strengthen its presence in Austria, Croatia and Serbia.

Her-Csi-Hús is a medium-sized company that employs nearly 250 people. István Oláh is proud of its low staff turnover and the skills and experience of its employees. “We believe that our competences are flexibility and our professional team of staff. In the short term we wish to stabilise our position in Hungary and the EU market with a production structure that maximises our profits. Our long-term objective is to become a dominant market player in the chicken processing business within our geographical region.”

As part of its continuing efforts to ensure the highest quality of staff, the company is committed to ensuring that all employees are appropriately trained and qualified. New initiatives on the horizon include projects to work in cooperation with high schools, giving pupils the opportunity to have an insight into the business. It is hoped that these projects will benefit the company in the long term, as the schools will be providing potential candidates for employment.

Investing in the future

The company is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment at its poultry breading sites. This has required considerable investment but will result in much greater capacity and quality control. Currently the company has a hatchery that produces 13 million chicks, but once the work is completed this number will be almost doubled to 24 million chicks. The work on these projects is due for completion in January 2015.

To meet the increasing opportunities from new business at home and abroad, next year the company is planning to modernise its cutting and packaging technology at its processing facility. This new venture will provide greater capacity to allow for further development of the business. In addition to cutting and packaging, the company is exploring the possibilities of introducing dry product manufacturing in its processing units.

The constant demand for quality poultry products places a number of requirements on the supplier. Food safety, product quality and environmental protection are the three key components. Having the ability to monitor and ensure that the highest standards are met at all times means offering a full farm-to-table service. Her-Csi-Hús has demonstrated repeatedly that it maintains the highest technological standards, producing the highest quality products whilst focusing on animal welfare and therefore placing the company at the top of its field. n