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Making Chicken Quality
Tue, February 21, 2017
Earlier this month we gave you an in-depth look at Good Manufacturing Practices. Beltraide had organized a workshop for business operators to learn more about the strict and costly but very necessary HACCP certification system. HACCP, which is a food safety system stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point. Well, a few large scale companies are putting that theory into action. Quality Poultry Products is one of them. They were officially HACCP certified in late January. Yesterday at a press conference at their poultry plant in Spanish Lookout, I found out what it took to get this point and what it means for their business and the industry going forward. Here is that story.

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Quality Poultry, it's a stop everyone makes on their grocery run. It has been a Belizean staple for about 30 years.

The company officially became Quality Poultry Products in 1975 and since then the business has expanded significantly with 351 employees, 12 branches countrywide, even a restaurant chain 'Quality Chicken Express'.

But apart from the growth of the business operations, General Manager Raymond Barkman says they also want to ensure their customers always get products that meet food safety standards.

Raymond Barkman, General Manager, Quality Poultry Products
"We finally now, end of January, we were able to get our HACCP certification which stands for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, now I want to say this road was not easy, however, why did we do this? Well pretty much we want to ensure all Belizeans that we have a market here in Belize that we want to preserve and that they deserve food safety as well as anybody else out there."

Barkman and his team began working at getting (HACCP) certified in 2015. Over the years, there have been a number of infrastructural upgrades reflecting those strict standards; all at a hefty cost.

Raymond Barkman, General Manager, Quality Poultry Products
"The processing room if, for those who went through the tour, it has to be 52 Fahrenheit which is really cold right, which is colder than comfortable if I may call it that way especially for us Belizeans here and then of course every material you put on the wall has certain conditions, it has to be wash ready, it has to take heat, I mean pretty much every kind of material you can only use certain stuff obviously bio security is a big thing, the sanitary issues is very big and I mean the list just keeps going."

Hon. Godwin Hulse, Minister of Agriculture
"You have taken the time to deal with some of the other important things such as the disposal of waste which impressed me significantly, because waste disposal is always a problem and when you have big industries all around the world, waste disposal is just throwing away in the river and throwing it in the ground and who suffers, suffers, you have gone through an elaborate process to deal with your waste water. You have made sure that you are fairly well environmentally covered so you fit that criteria for us and then of course, I understand the market you are developing are markets that are looking for non GMO fed animals which is important."

Raymond Barkman, General Manager, Quality Poultry Products
"Over the last 3 years we have invested $7 million dollars in quality poultry products alone now, about 75% of that is directly for HACCP, not all of the 7 million goes to Quality Poultry products HACCP per say but 75% of that was to establish HACCP."

And with all that investment comes increased accountability at all stages.

Raymond Barkman, General Manager, Quality Poultry Products
"It goes all the way to the individual farmer and trust me it was a little hard, they are feeling it right now to get their records from their barn to our plant, we are actually paying them $50 bucks a paper just to get their record system going and yes it starts all the way from where the birds are grown all the way to the supermarket."

Amir Cruz, Managing Director, BAHA
"In HACCP , I think one of the basic tenants is that if you haven't written it down you haven't done it so basically they have to have a system of proper documentation and yes there are audited and in this particular case it is us BAHA that we do that to ensure that food is always meeting the standards."

While HACCP will enhance Quality Poultry Products and increase competitiveness locally, this certification will also lead to more lucrative business connections internationally.

Raymond Barkman, General Manager, Quality Poultry Products
"Every time when we go into the export market, the door, the first question was "do you have HACCP? Whenever that door opens, Do you have HACCP? Oh no, well that door closes, so here is what I hope HACCP will do for us, is now that when that door opens, there is nothing keeping us back we can go in."

Jose Alpuche, CEO, Ministry of Agriculture
"It is a business that has to be done right and I think that is one of the major significance in Quality Poultry being the first plant to reach HACCP certification, first poultry plant in Belize to reach HACCP certification because it puts the industry at whole other level."

Now if you were wondering about the quality of products you were getting before this certification - don't, because BAHA inspectors still did regular checks and assessments, but now with HACCP - all the health and safety regulations are in place. As to how this will affect the price of chicken? Well Barkman says they will do all they can to ensure that any extra costs aren't passed on to customers.

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